Future's Dawn
by Senshi of Ruin
Summary: *Sequel to Wild Fire!* After learning of the devastating future, Team Rocket must band together to overcome this. However, with old rivalries dividing them is there any hope for the world?
1. Chapter 1

**Future's Dawn**

**By Shari**

**Chapter One: A Death**

_"Well then, let's get this show on the road. Team Rocket finally gets to protect the world from devastation."_

For Jessie, the events of the past week appeared to merge together into a hazy dream that she was only just waking from. If she kept her eyes closed for just a little longer she hoped that somehow it would all work out and that they would be okay. This was a feeling that she clung to, even when a voice cut through the comfort that she had surrounded herself in.

"Jessie? Jessie, wake up."

_This future will be realised and then you will all die_

The words that Cassidy uttered with such despair were still fresh in her mind and Jessie felt herself trembling at their recollection. James and Meowth were her family… they were all she had. She couldn't lose them, she just couldn't.

"JESSIE!" Meowth's yell and the pain that followed were what finally forced her to open her eyes.

Jessie instantly sprang to her feet, "My beautiful face!" She shouted and clenched her hand into a fist readying herself to take a swing for the cat for daring to scratch her.

"Never mind your face!" Meowth shot back as he dodged the anticipated blow. "We need to get Jimmy to the infirmary."

_"It's just a scratch, Jess."_

James…

Instantly, Jessie forgot everything else and hurried to her partner's side. James was leaning up against the base of a tree. He was still pale from the blood loss and pain but thankfully his shoulder hadn't started bleeding again. The bullet, however, would need to be removed. He forced a smile when she stepped up beside him and as much as she wanted to embrace him, Jessie was hesitant, as Meowth still didn't know about the two of them.

"It's okay, I found out a while back," the cat said with a grin as though he had guessed Jessie's indecision. "You can't keep anything from Meowth."

"You were spying on us?" Jessie demanded, feeling a flair of temper at this.

"No," Meowth's grin widened, "you two aren't as subtle as you think."

Jessie sighed but refrained from saying anymore on the subject. Hurriedly, she scanned the immediate vicinity and soon realised that they were in Viridian Forest, although thankfully she could see the city through the trees. The roof of the gym was also visible which meant that Megumi had been successful in sending them back.

Unlike last time there had been no earthquake or any destruction of any kind. It was as though Jessie had just gone to sleep and now all this almost seemed as though it were a dream. Almost. Where it not for the blood on James's shirt.

"Right," Jessie said as she wrapped an arm around James's waist to support him. "The hospital isn't that far away. We've wasted enough time already."

"The hospital?" Meowth asked in surprise. "Team Rocket's infirmary can remove a bullet, Jess."

"I know but what if they ask questions? The white squad aren't assigned to missions involving firearms."

"But the hospital might involve the police."

"That's a risk we have to take. If the Order is gathering forces within Team Rocket then we can't trust anyone."

Meowth sighed, knowing that Jessie was right. However, he paused and frowned, as though he had just thought of something else.

"James, did you see Butch or Cassidy when you woke up?"

"No," James shook his head. "I wonder why they're not here."

"Who cares," Jessie dismissed his concern for the other two without a second thought. "We've got to get you to the hospital," she added when she saw the look on his face. Jessie had been given a brief account of their journey to Saffron City together and James had admitted that those two weren't 'as bad' after all. Evidently they'd come to some sort of truce, Jessie thought, but she wasn't going to forget everything that Cassidy did to her in a hurry, and, if Cassidy was going to betray them, then it might be better if something had happened to her on their return.

However, Jessie did not voice these thoughts to her friends. "Meowth, why don't you go back to the HQ and see if you can find them," she relented finally. "A talking Pokémon would only attract more attention at the hospital and we're going to have to come up with a cover story as it is."

It was obvious that Meowth didn't want to leave them but he could see the sense in Jessie's words and left once they reached the city.

Thankfully the hospital wasn't too far away but Jessie also had another reason to be concerned for her partner. James had been quiet since they had escaped the Order in Saffron City and Jessie knew that it had a lot to do with what happened to his parents and Growlie. Although his parents didn't care a lot for him, they were still his parents and Jessie knew of the loss that he felt all too well. It must have been terrible for James to see what Growlie had become and then for him to be gunned down right in front of him. Jessie could well imagine that pain but she just didn't know what to say to make things better. So she remained silent on the matter and acted as normal around him. This appeared to be the best option and James seemed grateful for this.

The hospital was quiet this time of the day, just passed mid-morning, and they only had to wait a few minutes to see someone. A nurse led them to a cubicle and told James to sit down on the bed.

"A doctor will be along in a few moments," she said, her tone was pleasant and Jessie felt a rush of jealousy when the young woman's gaze lingered on James for a moment or two more than was necessary. In reaction to this, Jessie reached over and took his hand in her own. The nurse smiled and left them alone, only pausing to pull the curtain around the cubicle to give them some privacy.

"What are we going to tell them?" James wondered out loud, obviously worried about giving any kind of explanation.

"Just leave that to me," Jessie answered. In truth she wasn't altogether sure either but she cared little for the police or anyone else at that moment. James was her only concern.

"What are we going to do?" James asked quietly, "We're always messing up, Jessie, and we _can't _mess this up. If we get one thing wrong then everything we've seen… it will all become a reality."

"Don't worry about that right now," Jessie shook her head. "We've got plenty of time to work things out."

"My parents haven't," James replied softly to this.

Before Jessie could comment on this the curtain was pulled back and another woman entered. 'Doctor Johnson' Jessie read on the nametag clipped to her white coat.

"Are you family?" She turned to Jessie and asked. Her tone was curt and had little feeling to it.

"I'm his girlfriend," Jessie answered to this, her tone becoming defensive.

"I see," Dr Johnson held her gaze for a few seconds before turning to James. "We had some trouble finding your medical records on our system. Could you please confirm your full name and address?"

"James Thomas Morgan--" James began hesitantly.

"We're Pokémon trainers," Jessie cut in quickly, "so we have no fixed address at the moment."

It was obvious that Dr Johnson wasn't going to let them get away with only giving her part of the information. This was going to be more difficult than Jessie anticipated.

"Look," she snapped, "James's is hurt so why don't you stop asking all these pointless questions and treat him."

"I need to look at his records and also make sure that your medical insurance checks out."

Medical insurance? Jessie cursed inwardly. Being in Team Rocket meant that they didn't pay any kind of insurance. The Boss usually covered all that but she couldn't give the Viridian Gym's insurance details without Giovanni knowing.

"The policy's in my father's name," James said hurriedly to this and then gave her his parents' details. As soon as he said their names, it became obvious that Dr Johnson had heard of them and immediately her tone changed.

"I'll give this new information to the nurse and will be back in just a minute," she said with a smile.

"James, what are you doing?" Jessie hissed as soon as she'd gone. "Your father will see the claim on the insurance!"

"What else could I do?" James shot back, wincing slightly as he shifted his position on the bed. "We can't claim it on the gym insurance."

"I know," Jessie relented when she saw the pained look on his face. "I'm sorry," she squeezed his hand after uttering her apology.

"Right then," Dr Johnson hurried back into the room at that moment. "That all checks out and I have your notes right here," she indicated the clipboard of papers that she held in her right hand. "Jessie, I'm afraid you'll have to leave whilst I take a look at James's wound."

"There's really no need," James tried to protest but Dr Johnson was adamant of this and stated that there was a waiting room across the hall that was especially for relatives.

Jessie decided that it would be best if she didn't protest at this and left, although she really would have preferred to stay with James.

She quickly found the waiting room that Dr Johnson had mentioned. Very much lost in thought, Jessie didn't pay any attention to the other occupants of the room. However, they noticed her straight away.

"I might have known you'd be around here somewhere!" The pre-teen yelled angrily.

"Oh great," Jessie growled angrily as the twerp moved towards her. "Just my luck to run into you."

"I told you, Misty!" The twerp started shouting to his companion. It struck Jessie as strange that the big twerp wasn't with them but she dismissed this when she realised that the twerp was behaving very differently from normal. He was actually shaking and she could see hints of tears in his eyes as he continued to rave at the red head behind him. "Whenever something bad happens, those three are usually behind it! Where are James and Meowth? They must be hiding around here somewhere, too."

"Ash," Misty reached out and weakly grabbed the sleeve of his jacket, "please stop," this last part came out as almost a whimper.

"No, I'm going to make them and the rest of Team Rocket pay for what they did! Pikachu, thundershock her!"

"Now wait a minute," Jessie reached for the Pokéball containing Arbok. "I'm not sure what you think we've done but this time we're innocent."

"Innocent, yeah right. Pikachu!" the twerp turned to his electric rat but Pikachu was still sitting beside Misty and refused to listen to his trainer's commands.

At this, Jessie felt a chill run through her. In those few seconds she realised that something was terribly wrong. "What happened?" She asked, looking to Misty now rather than Ash.

"It's Tracy," Misty whispered, as she clutched Togepi tightly to her chest. "He's dead."

"And it's your fault!" Ash put in before Jessie even had a chance to process this information. Even after all that she had seen, this shocked her the most. Despite the fact that the twerps were Team Rocket's enemy, she never wished them any real harm; none of them did.

"I…" Jessie struggled to find the words, "I'm sorry for your loss," she offered at last but Ash was too upset and angry to hear her.

In fact his fury appeared to only heighten at her sympathy. However, he said nothing more and fled the room. Pikachu cast a hesitant glance at Misty before running after his trainer.

For a minute that seemed to stretch into a lifetime, Jessie lingered near to the doorway. Part of her wanted to just leave but another part of her wouldn't allow her to leave Misty alone. The younger girl and pulled Togepi closer to her and looked as though she was going to cry again.

Jessie sighed to herself and crossed the room so that she could sit down next to Misty. Even in these circumstances she didn't feel right about this at all but there was no one else and the twerp was obviously little help in his current state.

"What happened?" Jessie found herself asking.

"There was a break-in at Professor Oak's lab. Tracy must have disturbed them. Witnesses saw Team Rocket agents leaving the building shortly afterwards."

"That's impossible," Jessie said immediately. She was not naïve enough to think that these kinds of incidents didn't occur from time to time, but Tracy was just a kid. Not even Team Rocket would go that far.

"Is it?" Misty raised her head and Jessie saw glimmers of Ash's anger reflected in her eyes.

"We don't know anything about that," she said to this at length, feeling the need to defend her team against the unsaid accusations.

"I know," Misty said, to Jessie's surprise, "but Ash doesn't see it that way. He's already talking about revenge."

For the twerp to do such a thing would be foolish, Jessie knew but before she could comment on this further, the door opened again.

This time the big twerp entered and he paused when he saw her. Jessie sighed and stood up, deciding that perhaps it would be better if she left. She could wait out in the main reception.

"What are you doing here?" Brock demanded as he hurried to Misty's side.

"Don't worry I'm leaving," Jessie shot back, feeling her temper spike despite the bereavement that the twerp trio had suffered.

"Wait," Misty called out, her voice sounding a little stronger than before. "You didn't tell us why you're here."

"James is hurt," was all Jessie would say to this.

"I'm sorry," Misty replied softly. "If there's anything--" she began but Jessie cut her off.

"I'm sorry for your loss but tell that little twerp that if he goes after Team Rocket he'll be making a big mistake." With that Jessie left the room.

She found the nurse who had seen them previously in reception and asked her to find out what was going on. The other woman was only gone for a few minutes and when she came back she explained that they were going to remove the bullet and give James a blood transfusion.

"It'll be a while yet before you can see him," she added, "and you look tired. Perhaps you could go home and rest for a few hours?"

"No, thank you," Jessie shook her head. The nurse had obviously been expecting this response and smiled.

"In that case, why don't you go down to the cafeteria and get something to eat. You look as though you could do with a sit down at least."

Jessie nodded slowly, realising for the first time how hungry she was. She couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten anything and now that she knew that James going to be okay she found that she could focus on other things. She again thanked the nurse and the woman left her alone.

Before going to the cafeteria Jessie stopped off in the bathroom. She stepped up to the sink and took a glance in the mirror and was stunned at how pale she looked. Her hair had lost its shine and hung almost limply, free from its usual style. She still wore the clothes that Keiko had given her, although they were smeared with dirt in places. She quickly ran her hands through her hair to try and tease out most of the tangles and smoothed down the creases in her blouse.

Finally satisfied that she looked more or less presentable, Jessie continued on her way to the cafeteria. Still she felt unable to fully relax for now that her concern for James had faded a little, she couldn't help but think of all that she had learned whilst being held prisoner by the Order and for the first time in her life, Jessie was at a complete loss as to what to do.

* * *

"You took your time," a voice above him stated as Butch opened his eyes. He frowned, his head was starting to pound and it took him a few seconds to recognise that voice.

"Cassidy?" He asked as he sat up. "Where are we?"

"The store room," she answered, "you've been out for a while."

Butch glanced around feeling faint relief that everything seemed in order. All of the supplies were on the shelves and the floor beneath him was firm. "Then we're back?" He dared to ask.

"I guess," Cassidy shrugged. "I haven't been outside yet."

"Where are Jessie and James?" He asked next as he got to his feet. His headache was making itself further known upon this movement and he could barely hold back a grimace of pain.

"I don't know. They're not here," Cassidy answered with another shrug.

He glanced up at the light coming through the window. "Was it light when you woke?

"Yeah. Megumi said she'd have returned us to the exact moment before she transported us to the future previously. I think we've been unconscious for the rest of the night."

"Great," Butch muttered as he began to walk towards the exit. Cassidy hesitated slightly before joining him.

"It doesn't seem real now, does it?" She offered quietly as he opened the door.

"It was real enough," Butch returned darkly. Last night everything had seemed so clear and now… he didn't know what he had expected would happen but events so far had thrown him.

"Where are you going?"

"We need to find Jessie and James."

Cassidy frowned at this, "Why?"

"Because we need to figure out what it is we're going to do."

"I guess."

Cassidy was silent after this and Butch wasn't sure what to make of it at all. He was still very angry with her and her betrayal was not something he would be ready to forgive but like it or not they had to work together.

"Look," Butch stated, his voice hinting at impatience as well as anger. "You may not give a damn about Megumi and all that she gave up in order to warn us, but I do and I'm not going to let her death be in vain."

At this Cassidy almost laughed, her own anger becoming her defence now. "So you want to be the hero? I think you need a reality check, Butch. We're Team Rocket. We're _evil _remember? We are the last people who should be saving the world."

"Is that what you really think? Perhaps for you it's true. You were born into this life, Cassidy."

"Yeah but you chose it."

"What choice was there?" Butch hissed furiously.

Cassidy rolled her eyes and shook her head at this statement. "There is always a choice. You couldn't make things work in the real world so you opted for the easy way out. Stealing a few Pokémon from witless trainers and receiving a handsome paycheck each month for doing so. You have a life that you can go back to anytime, but I don't have that luxury."

"Is that what this is about? Are you afraid that if the Boss is somehow involved and Team Rocket disbands as a result then you'll lose your precious birthright?"

"Don't be so stupid. I'm trying to stop you getting yourself killed."

"Gee, Cassidy, I didn't know you cared."

"Well perhaps I shouldn't! Fine, you want to play hero? Well go right ahead. You'll get no help from me and if Jessie and James have even half a brain between them they'll come to the same conclusion that I have."

With this, she pushed passed Butch and exited the room. Butch sighed in frustration as the door slammed shut behind her.

He couldn't believe that Cassidy was acting like this. How could she be so heartless after all that they had seen?

_We are the last people who should be saving the world_

She had also misread his motives completely. It wasn't about becoming a hero. Butch knew that no matter how much he tried, he couldn't turn away from the life that he now led. His 'choice' as Cassidy had put it had been forced. His father had been an alcoholic and his mother had left when he was seven. He had started stealing money in order to keep a roof over their heads. Even Cassidy wasn't aware of his situation and Butch had hidden it from her for he had been ashamed. His father's violence had been the final straw and Butch had joined Team Rocket to escape that life. His father had probably drunk himself to death by now and Butch cared very little for the man in any case. His previous life was not something that Butch could ever return to, despite what Cassidy had said.

Still, Butch knew that he wasn't evil. Not many in Team Rocket truly had their hearts blackened. They joined for reasons similar to his own. True, Butch was a little in the grey area where morals were concerned but what the Wild Fire Order did _was _evil and Butch couldn't allow this to happen. It wasn't about becoming a hero and, in any case, he doubted that he'd get any recognition should they succeed. Things would not get as far as the virus becoming public knowledge. This experimentation was started by Team Rocket and would be stopped by Team Rocket. It was that simple.

"Butch?" He looked up as the door to the storeroom opened again and, much to his surprise, Meowth entered. The cat Pokémon looked tired and as stressed out as Butch himself was feeling.

"What are you doing here?" Butch asked as Meowth let the door swing shut behind him.

"Jessie asked me to come and find you."

"Jessie did?" Butch frowned at this. Although she had not said much on their journey back to Larchwood, Jessie had made her feelings very clear; that she didn't like or trust Butch or Cassidy.

"Yeah, she's taken James to the hospital. She asked me to find you and Cassidy to let you know."

"The hospital?" Butch repeated, "Is she out of her mind?"

"We have no other choice. The doctors in Team Rocket will be even more suspicious."

Butch knew that this was true but he didn't like it at all. "I guess," he stated finally. "But we need to all get together pretty soon and work out just what we're going to do about this mess."

"Yeah," Meowth nodded. "I just saw Cassidy leaving. I tried to talk to her but she blanked me completely."

Butch sighed at this. He was fed up with protecting his former partner. No matter what his feelings for her were, he was now certain that she didn't care about him or anyone else for that matter. Cassidy was only ever out for herself and that would never change.

"We can't expect any help from Cassidy," he said at length. "She's made her feelings perfectly clear. She's not interested in stopping the Order."

* * *

_Fine, you want to play hero? Well go right ahead. You'll get no help from me and if Jessie and James have even half a brain between them they'll come to the same conclusion that I have_

"Nice of you to finally join us," Professor Nanba stated, barely concealing his annoyance as Cassidy slammed the lab door shut behind her. For a moment her gaze averted to the Pokémon in cages and noted how sick they were.

"Sorry, sir," she grumbled, "I had some paperwork to take care of."

"Whatever," Nanba dismissed her excuses with a wave of the hand. "You'll be pleased to know that your mission was a complete success. I now have all the information I need to perfect my potion. I will be writing up a report for Giovanni by the end of the week and by then I hope to begin experimentation on Pokémon other than Ratatta and Pidgey."

"That's great," Cassidy replied half-heartedly, a chill running through her at his words. Already it was beginning…

"I also have some news that will bring you great relief no doubt."

"And what might that be?"

"I have just got off the phone to one of my contacts at the Viridian hospital. Professor Oak's assistant did not make it through the night."

As much as it horrified her, Cassidy found that she did feel relief at this news. Without any witnesses, no one would ever know of her part in this. However, Tracy had just been a kid… a kid with his whole life in front of him. Gods…

"Cassidy?" Nanba prompted her when he saw the look on her face and Cassidy forced her grimace into a weak smile.

"That's good news, sir."

"It is," Nanba agreed. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going for an early lunch."

Once he had gone, Cassidy retreated back into her office. Her stomach was churning and any moment she thought she was going to be sick. That poor kid… he hadn't deserved to die like that. Gods he was only fourteen…

Cassidy slumped down at her computer and struggled to blink back her tears. Everything was such a mess and if Butch ever found out about any of it…

_You couldn't make things work in the real world so you opted for the easy way out_

It seemed that every word that she spoke to him was poison and Cassidy just couldn't see how they would ever regain their friendship after all this. Everything was crumbling to dust around her and Cassidy had known at that moment that she was on her own.

Casting a glance at the computer, she hit the logon key and typed in her username and password. She had one of the higher access accounts on the Rocket server system but much to her dismay she found that they were still some files of Nanba's that she did not have permission to view. She had already been through the ones that she could access and none of these held any of the information that she was after. Cassidy was pretty sure that Giovanni would be interested to learn of the Wild Fire Project but she could not make such accusations without any proof.

Cassidy sighed to herself and picked up the phone. Although she had ruled out working with Butch and the others, she knew that she couldn't do this without help.

The voice on the other end of the phone was as chipper as usual, and Cassidy hastily cut through all pleasantries.

"Mondo, I need your help."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Divided we fall

It was early evening when James woke. When he opened his eyes he felt momentarily disorientated and it took him a few minutes to remember what had happened and where he was. His shoulder wasn't hurting anymore and the bleep of machinery quickly reminded him that he was in the Viridian City hospital. James remembered them treating him and then he had been told to rest. After everything that had happened, sleep had easily overcome him.

He managed to move into a sitting position without too much difficulty. This movement caused Jessie to stir. She had been sat in a chair next beside him and her hand was inter-laced with his own.

"James?" The relief was evident in her eyes as she quickly became fully awake. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," James answered, "hungry," he added with a sheepish grin. Jessie smiled too.

"Is food all you think about?"

James grinned wider at this. "Have you been here the whole time?" He asked curiously.

"Of course," Jessie answered. "The doctor came round a little while ago. She asked me to let her know when you woke up. James, I…" Jessie's voice wavered and James saw a glimmer of the vulnerability that lurked beneath her tough façade. "Don't ever do that to me again!" She settled on sternly as she reigned in her emotions. However, this didn't stop her from leaning over and kissing him. James reached up with his good arm and wrapped it around her shoulders, pulling her closer. He felt terrible for causing her all this worry, especially considering everything else that was happening at the moment.

Finally Jessie drew back from their embrace. "I really should go and get the doctor," she said with a weak smile.

James nodded and let her go. She appeared really shaken up and he had a feeling that it was more than just him that she was worried about. However, it didn't look like he would have a chance to question her until the doctor had gone.

Jessie returned a few minutes later with Dr Johnson. She waited in tense silence whilst the doctor checked his wound and then asked him a few questions about how he was feeling. She smiled, seemingly satisfied with his progress. "You'll be able to go home in the morning," she added. "I would like to keep you in over-night just for observation."

"That's great, doctor," Jessie said, breaking her silence. "Thank you very much."

"You don't have to thank me," Dr Johnson said with another smile. "Just make sure he gets plenty of rest."

At that moment the nurse from earlier that day stuck her head round the side of the curtain and motioned for Dr Johnson to come over. She apologised and did so. James couldn't hear what was being said but the conversation only lasted a few minutes at the most.

"I'm sorry but you'll have to excuse me for a few minutes. The nurse has also informed me that your parents are waiting in reception. I'll let them know you're awake. They are really worried about you."

James felt himself tense up at her words but Dr Johnson left before either of them could say anything. Since learning of what would happen to them, James knew that he would have to face them again but this wasn't exactly the setting that he had in mind.

"How did they know you were here?" Jessie demanded, her blue eyes flashing with anger when she saw how worried James looked.

"The insurance," he sighed. James had known that this might have happened. His father would have been notified immediately if any claims on the family medicinal insurance were made. Unluckily with the new technology in recent years, notice of claims pending were made almost instantly. However, it was a risk that he had to take, as they couldn't have let Giovanni know what had happened.

"James," Jessie moved to his bedside once more and took his hand. "You don't have to see them if you don't want to."

"Jessie, I--" James was about to reply when the curtain was pulled back again.

"Oh ma poor little boy! I've been so worried about you," Judith Morgan cried as she hurried to her son's bedside. She barely acknowledged Jessie's presence at all as she continued, "What did those nasty Rocket's do to you?"

"I warned you," Thomas Morgan added sternly. "I knew this kind of thing would happen one day. When are you going to face up to your responsibilities and stop running around with that gang of criminals?"

"Team Rocket didn't do this, mother," James answered, a little tiredly.

"Don't be stupid, of course they did. I don't understand why you're protecting them. You could have been killed," Judith reprimanded, taking no notice of what James was saying at all. They hadn't changed at all, James thought with a sigh and had resigned himself to listening to their lecture when Jessie cut into the conversation.

"If you're just going to lecture him then you can push off right now. Can't you see he's been through enough?"

The looks that they gave Jessie were almost murderous but it didn't appear to faze her at all.

"How dare you use that tone with us, young lady," Thomas began.

"She's no lady," Judith added angrily. "A proper lady doesn't use language like that when addressing her betters."

"Betters?" Jessie growled through clenched teeth. "How dare _you_?"

James cast a glance at the nearby window and wondered if he could make a run for it. This was turning into a nightmare and little did he know it was about to get worse.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," the nurse once again pulled back the certain. James glanced nervously at Jessie when he saw who was with her; Officer Jenny.

"James, sorry to do disturb your family's visit but Officer Jenny would like to have a brief word with you, if that's okay?" The nurse asked.

"That's fine," James sighed, knowing that there was no way out of this. Jessie refused to leave his side and, much to his annoyance, his parents insisted on staying too. The atmosphere was so tense that James would have been surprised if Officer Jenny didn't pick up on it. As it was she paid it no heed and asked him about his 'accident'.

"I'm not really sure what happened," James began vaguely. "I'm still really shocked about the whole ordeal."

"I understand that this must be a little much for you but this is the second shooting this week and I need to establish if the two cases are connected so please try to recall something, anything at all would be helpful."

"We were in the Viridian forest, remember James?" Jessie prompted him when James remained silent.

"That's right," he said to this, quickly catching on.

"I see," Jenny nodded, "may I ask what you were doing out there?"

"Trying to capture bug Pokémon," Jessie answered quickly. "We're Pokémon trainers."

"And then what happened?"

"These maniacs started shooting at us," Jessie continued, "I don't know who they were. They didn't even say what they wanted. They just started firing at us," she pretended to wipe away a tear at this. "James was so brave. He shielded me and that's how he got hit."

Officer Jenny still appeared a little sceptical and made a few notes in her jotter before speaking again.

"I take it you both realise how serious an offence lying to a police officer is?"

"Of course," James nodded, "but we're not lying."

"The problem I have with your story, James, is that when I spoke to your doctor she said that your wound was almost 3 days old. Surely you realised how serious a gunshot wound is? I don't understand why you would wait so long before seeking treatment?"

"We became lost in the forest whilst trying to escape our attackers," Jessie snapped. "I got James here just as soon as I could. What is it exactly that you are suggesting?"

"Look," Officer Jenny said. "I am not trying to 'suggest' anything. I am also investigating the murder of Professor Oak's assistant, Tracy Sketchit, and it strikes me as odd that the two shootings appear to have happened within days of each other."

"Murder?" James asked, feeling cold all over at her words. If he recalled correctly, Tracy was the teen who had been travelling with the twerp for a while. He was just a kid really…

"We've also had a witness come forward who says that she saw Team Rocket agents in the area at the time of the shooting. What I am trying to ascertain here is whether you two were also the victims of an attempted murder or whether you are covering up for those responsible for Tracy Sketchit's death."

"How dare you?" Thomas chose that moment to break his silence. "Do you have any idea who we are?"

"I know exactly who you are, Mr Morgan," Officer Jenny stated calmly. "I am just trying to get my facts straight, that is all."

"No, you're throwing around these wild allegations that our son is somehow involved with the unpleasant goings on at Professor Oak's laboratory," Judith snapped furiously.

"I assure you I am not accusing your son of any wrongdoing at this stage in the investigation."

"I should hope not," Thomas answered her just as furiously. "Now James needs his rest so if you have all the information you need, I would kindly ask that you leave."

Officer Jenny looked taken aback at this but could see that she wasn't going to get any further questioning done whilst the Morgan's were there. "May I take a contact number?" She said at length.

"Our butler is in reception. He will give you all the contact numbers you need," Thomas said curtly.

Officer Jenny then turned to Jessie. "May I have a quick word with you outside?"

Jessie appeared very reluctant but she also knew that it might cause even more trouble if she refused. Once she and Officer Jenny had gone, James's parents turned their attention back to him.

"What an awful woman," Judith stated, fanning herself a little in shock.

"She's just doing her job, mother," James stated quietly.

"You're not to speak to her again until I've contacted our lawyer," Thomas told him. "But let me tell you right now, if you are somehow involved in this then even we can't help you."

"I'm not," James snapped angrily. "And I don't _want_ your help." They hadn't changed at all, he thought bitterly. They didn't care about him. They were just concerned that should Officer Jenny realise that he was connected to Team Rocket that their names would be dragged through the mud along with his own.

"James, darling, we only want what's best for you," Judith said gently. "Why must you always insist on fighting us?"

"You just want to control me," he shot back at this.

"Don't be so melodramatic dear," Judith said in that sickening sweet voice she often used to reprimand James in public. "We've spoken to that charming doctor and she says that you can come home with us first thing tomorrow."

"Come home with you?" James repeated weakly. "Just wait a minute…"

"It's all been arranged," Thomas answered him in a tone that would heed no arguments. "You're coming home with us."

James's first reaction was to protest against this but at that moment he recalled, with a shiver, the newspaper article. In three days time they would be dead unless he did something to save them.

"Very well," he very reluctantly agreed, "but on one condition. I will not see Jessiebell. If she even steps foot inside your grounds then I'll be gone."

They both exchanged annoyed glances but they did agree to this. "You'll have to make it up to her eventually," Judith said as they left the room. "The poor girl was most broken-hearted after you ran away from her the last time."

James was very much relieved when they left him alone. Deep down he really did love his parents but they were so controlling and never listened to him at all. Even if he tried to warn them, James knew that it would do no good. Nevertheless, he vowed he would find a way to save them no matter what.

* * *

Jessie had to struggle to keep her expression neutral as she stepped outside of the room. It was very obvious that Officer Jenny suspected that they were hiding something and that she intended to get to the bottom of it.

For a few minutes she asked Jessie to repeat her statement, obviously trying to find discrepancies but Jessie was expecting this, much to Jenny's obvious frustration.

Finally she appeared to give up and went on her way. Jessie sighed in relief, and felt even more so when a few minutes later James's parents also departed. Although Jessie knew that she should probably let James get some sleep, she also wanted to make sure that he was okay.

When she looked in he was still sitting up in bed, his expression was one of concern.

"Are you okay?" Jessie ventured as she stepped up to the bed once.

James forced a smile. "I guess so."

"Sure?" Jessie persisted and this earned a genuine smile from her partner.

"Yes," James shook his head and chuckled lightly. "What a day, eh?"

"I'll say," Jessie agreed. "I should probably let you get some more sleep. I'll come back in the morning – Meowth will want to know how you are too."

"Jessie," James hesitated before continuing. "I'm going home with my parents for a few days."

Silence passed between them for a several minutes. "What?" Jessie asked, wondering if she'd heard right. "James are you out of your mind?"

"I know its not going to be easy, Jessie, but I need to do this. In three day's time they'll be…" he trailed off, unable to finish his sentence.

"We will find a way to save them, but to go back with them," Jessie shook her head. "James, we also need you here."

_I need you here..._

Jessie didn't want to admit it but she was scared, no terrified, of losing him and she couldn't help but feel as though James was already walking down that path.

"I need to go with them," James said quietly, as though sensing Jessie's upset. "I need to find out what it is that they've done that will cost them their lives."

"What about the Wild Fire Order? If the virus is released then everything we've ever cared about will be gone. The team, our Pokémon, Meowth. All of them will die, James."

"I know," he looked away and even though Jessie knew how difficult this was for him, she couldn't force down her fear and so instead this turned to anger. "But they're my parents, Jessie."

"And they have proved time and time again that they don't care for you at all. All that matters to them is that you marry and what do you think will happen if you go home with them?"

"I have told them that I do not wish to see Jessiebell."

Jessie almost laughed at this. "Do you really think that they'll listen to you? You'll be walking up that aisle before you know it."

James was silent at this for a few minutes and Jessie hoped that her words had gotten through to him.

"I'm just going to talk to them to find out what it is that they've got themselves involved. Once I know I can help them and then I'll come back to Viridian and we can stop the Order."

"Megumi said that we all have a part to play. We have to stick together," Jessie replied to this.

"What if my part is saving my parents? What if saving them changes something?"

"Fine," Jessie grit out, not wanting James to see just how upset she was. It was more than her fear of what was to come talking now. Jessie was also terrified that his parents might well coerce him into staying.

_I almost lost him once, _she recalled James's last meeting with his parents and Jessiebell all too well and she was still very much ashamed at the part she played then too.

"I'll leave my parents' contact details with the reception for you."

"Whatever," Jessie snarled out and she stormed out of the room before he could say anything more.

* * *

"Just how long is this going to take?" Cassidy demanded impatiently as she looked over Mondo's shoulder to get a view of the computer. The younger Rocket frowned as again an error message flashed up onto the screen.

"It could be hours," he admitted finally. "Whoever set the security for these folders really knew what they were doing."

"I haven't got hours," Cassidy glanced at the clock nervously. It was almost 7pm and Mondo had been working on cracking the security system on Nanba's files for over an hour now. The Professor and his assistants had left for the evening but still Cassidy felt concerned. She needed to get that information and give it to the Boss as soon as possible.

"What exactly is on here that you need so badly?" Mondo asked, a little worriedly. Cassidy had more or less bullied him into help her and hadn't told him a thing. With Mondo only being only a trainee, she hoped that she wouldn't have to tell him anything but she knew that she would have to say something to stop all these questions.

"I saved some reports there for the Boss and when I came back from lunch I found I was locked out of them."

"Then why can't you go down to the IT department and ask them to grant you access?"

"I did," Cassidy lied, "and they said that they couldn't give me access until tomorrow and Giovanni wants these reports _now_."

"I see," it was clear that Mondo didn't believe her but he was too scared of Cassidy to refuse. Cassidy hadn't spoken to Butch or the others since this morning and she had no intention of going to them with the information. She still couldn't bear the thought of Butch finding out what she had done in the future and working alone was the only way to ensure that he didn't find out. Ever. Once this was all over perhaps she could try and put things right between them.

Her thoughts then briefly turned to Jessie and James. Meowth had tried to tell her something and had mentioned a hospital but Cassidy had ignored the cat for she had just wanted to get away from Butch as quickly as possible. Cassidy hoped that James was okay. She felt bad about what had happened and she never wanted to see either of them hurt.

"Here we go!" Mondo suddenly exclaimed triumphantly.

"You've done it?"

"Yep," he grinned. "You've now got complete access to all the files on this server."

"Thanks," Cassidy hurriedly ushered him to the door. "Good work, Mondo."

"Don't mention it," he smiled, happy to help as always.

"Perhaps you shouldn't," Cassidy said without thinking and immediately cursed to herself for speaking out loud.

"What?" He looked up at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I think we should keep this between us, that's all."

Mondo's eyes widened in shock as he realised what she was hinting at. "Those files…" he swallowed hard and trailed off.

"Don't worry," Cassidy gave him a warm smile. "I'm not going to tell anyone and I'm sure you won't either, will you?"

"No," he shook his head, obviously troubled.

"Good boy," Cassidy smiled again and turned away to signal that their conversation was at an end. Mondo left without another word. He was nice kid really and Cassidy already had too much blood on her hands so she prayed that he would keep quiet. If he couldn't keep her secret then it would probably be the end of both of them.

Without further consideration into this, Cassidy hurried back to her office and sat down at the computer. There was a folder on the screen that hadn't been there before. It was called 'The Wild Fire Project'. Cassidy opened all of the documents inside that folder and hit 'print'. She had her evidence and now all she needed was to take it to the Boss and let him deal with Nanba.

She stood up as the printer began to hum and as she did so, Cassidy heard the lab door open. Tensing, she remained standing as the figure moved briskly through the room and then there was a knock on her office door.

"Yes?" Cassidy called out. Whoever it was would have heard the printer so there was little point in pretending that she wasn't here.

Seconds later Nanba entered. He was carrying a clipboard in one hand and appeared surprised to see her.

"Working late?" He questioned with his usual brusqueness.

"I'm just finishing up a couple of reports for the Boss," Cassidy answered him whilst trying to keep her own voice neutral.

"That's an unusual display of dedication," he commented to this.

"If you were in my position you would do the same, sir."

"Perhaps," he chuckled lightly. "I'd forgotten your recent disgrace," he added to this. "I trust you are finding that everything is being run to your satisfaction down here?"

"Of course," Cassidy lied, "the Boss will be most interested to hear of your progress."

Nanba liked this and smiled. "He will. In fact I have some most exciting news for him. The potion is far stronger than even I had anticipated and we should be able to move to phase two sooner than scheduled."

"What exactly is phase two, sir?"

"Why don't you come through to the lab and I'll show you."

"Great," Cassidy smiled but at that moment the printer chose to jam. Her heart began to thud inside her chest as it took through two pieces of paper at once and they became wedged in the feed tray. "I'll just sort this out and I'll be right with you," her words were spoken faster than normal and Cassidy struggled to gather up the papers that had printed and put them face down on the desk so that the professor wouldn't see them.

However, whilst she was doing this, he had set his clipboard down and had approached the printer. With seemingly no effort at all, Nanba freed the trapped paper that had half-printed.

"Thanks," Cassidy forced a grateful smile as though nothing was wrong and reached to take them from him.

Nanba frowned and in seconds Cassidy realised that the game was up. Panicked, she could only stand there as he let the paper flutter to the floor. She watched its flight, afraid to meet Nanba's gaze.

He moved forward and snatched up the rest of the print job. "Where did you get these?" He demanded quietly. "You don't have access to these files."

"I have access to all the files on the Rocket server system," Cassidy shot back, hoping that her voice sounded more confident than she felt inside.

"You're lying," Nanba stated as he set them back down and moved towards her. Despite herself, Cassidy tried to move away. "Those files were encrypted so that only myself could access them."

"It doesn't matter," she let her façade drop now for there was little point in continuing with it. "I'm going to make sure that the Boss reads these. He'll shut this entire sick operation down."

"Are you sure about that?"

Cassidy cried out in a combination of shock and pain when he struck her. Nanba was a lot stronger than he looked and the blow knocked her to the floor.

"You are a fool," he hissed as he approached her. "And you won't be telling Giovanni anything."

"You can't do anything to me," Cassidy winced as he dragged her to her feet and pulled her back towards the desk. "There will be too many questions."

"I know," Nanba shoved her roughly into the desk and Cassidy gasped at this new pain as her lower back jarred painfully against the woodwork. "But I had anticipated you becoming a problem and have already come up with the perfect solution. Look at the documents that you've printed."

He released her and, trembling, Cassidy picked up the top couple of sheets and leafed through them. They were status reports for a couple of Pokémon that Nanba had used to test an earlier strain of the virus on. Once she had read them, Nanba handed her the clipboard that he had been carrying. Clipped there were the same sheets of paper, but with one crucial difference. Cassidy's heart caught in her throat as she recognised her signature on each page, signing off the tests and the outcomes.

"I didn't sign these!"

"It's your signature is it not?"

"Yes but…"

"I took advantage of your incompetence," Nanba answered her. "You signed scores of these without even looking at what you were signing. Do you really think that the Boss will believe that you had nothing to do with my little side project after this?"

"He knows I have my concerns. I put these in my report to him."

"You did," Nanba agreed, "but that report never reached him."

"What?"

"I took the liberty of accessing your file and changing the parts that would cause any kind of investigation."

"I'll still tell him everything that I know. The Boss trusts me and knows that I would never betray him."

"Perhaps," Nanba smirked, "but make no mistake that I will do whatever it takes to implicate you in all of this. I have grunts who will gladly speak against you and will tell the Boss that you were in on the project from the beginning."

"He won't believe you."

"Won't he? Your signature is all over these reports, you've seemingly covered for me in your reports to Giovanni and you've clearly hacked into the system to gain access to sensitive information. Although I must admit I am surprised that you were able to circumvent the encrypted data so well. Unless you had help that is."

"No," Cassidy shook her head. "I did it all myself."

"Then perhaps you're not as ineffectual as I first thought," Nanba began pacing up and down as he spoke, as though he were thinking out loud. Cassidy, however, suspected otherwise. They sounded far too rehearsed to her ears.

"And because of this I am prepared to offer you a choice. I intend to take control of Team Rocket and release the virus into the wild. Once I have done this, I will become the only authority within Kanto and I shall use the virus to my advantage and oppress all who dare oppose me. However, I can see a position for someone of your standing within my new regime. If you choose to cooperate that is."

"And if I don't?" Cassidy asked.

"I will most certainly take you down with me."

There was no way out of this, Cassidy knew. If she refused to cooperate then she was of little doubt that Nanba would make good his threat. She thought of all that she had been told would come to pass should the virus be released. Megumi seemed to have so much faith in them, more than Cassidy had in herself. She hoped that she would be proved wrong in this assumption. The last thing she wanted was Butch getting hurt, or even killed, because of her.

"If I agree to your terms then you must give me your word that Butch will be allowed to walk away from this."

Nanba frowned at this. "You are in no position to be negotiating terms."

"Oh but I think I am. You see if I don't agree to join you then your project will be destroyed. Everything you have worked for so far will be for nothing. But if I decide to help you then your aspirations will become a reality. All I am asking for is that you spare one life. It is only a small thing in comparison."

"Very well," Nanba conceded. "Butch will walk away from this but if I hear of even the slightest disloyalty from you then he will pay the price for it."

With these words, Nanba left her. Cassidy sagged back against the desk as tears welled up in her eyes. She felt sick inside and her heart was still racing.

_This is the only way, _she told herself as she took a few minutes to regain her composure. Once she felt back in control, Cassidy began gathering up the printing and putting it through the shredder that was stood in the corner of the room.

_If you love Butch then let it all go. If you don't then we would have killed him again_

Butch was determined to prevent the future that they'd seen come to pass and Cassidy was equally determined to prevent this. However, she was not prepared to risk him. Even though she had not wished to admit her feelings, even to herself, and risk compromising the team, she did love Butch and wanted nothing more than to put things right between them. Now it looked as though she would have to sacrifice even their friendship in order to save his life.

Nanba was a fool, but he was a dangerous one and Cassidy could not risk having Butch involved. She was going to take down this entire operation herself.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Working Together**

"He's _what_?" Meowth demanded, the cat's eyes flashing angrily under the artificial light.

"You heard me fur-brain," Jessie snapped hotly, whilst turning her head to further avoid his glare.

"I had hoped I'd heard you wrong," Meowth shouted, his tenor not even lowering when there were some muffled shouts from the next room that they should keep it down. Jessie had spent most of her evening away from the base as she went over and over her conversation with James. A part of her wished that she hadn't lost her temper but a part of her knew that she had every right to. She just couldn't believe that after all that had happened James was abandoning them. This sounded a little melodramatic but in a sense that was what he was doing, or at least that was what it felt like to her. Even though Jessie wouldn't admit it, she was as frightened of what the future held as the rest of them. If it came to pass then Jessie would lose him and this idea terrified her.

So she had reacted with anger as she normally did and had only succeeded in pushing him away.

"Why didn't you stop him?" Meowth was asking next. The cat Pokémon was as unhappy about the situation as she was and Meowth made no secret of his anger either.

"Don't you think I tried?" Jessie grumbled. "He wouldn't listen."

"Great," Meowth sighed. "Well I guess I'll have to go and talk to him then."

"It won't do any good," Jessie pointed out. This was true; she'd never seen James so determined about anything before. Although James was rarely stubborn, when he had set his mind on something then there was nothing that Jessie could say that would deter him. She had a feeling that this was one of those times.

"Yeah well someone's got to try," Meowth jumped down off of the bed and went to the door. Jessie shrugged and decided to let him go. It was late and it was doubtful that they'd even let him see James at this hour.

Jessie lay down on her bed and uttered a small sigh. She could understand the pain of losing a parent all too well and she knew that if the situation were reversed then she would do a similar thing. The difference was that Miyamoto had loved Jessie unreservedly whereas Thomas and Judith Morgan primarily only saw James as the heir to their fortune. They had no love for their son at all.

Still they were his parents, she thought with a scowl and James wouldn't abandon them. He just wasn't that kind of person and, if Jessie were honest, she wouldn't want him to be.

"Hey," Meowth's voice suddenly cut into her thoughts once more and she sat up, frowning a little at the hint of annoyance that was now in his tone. "Now really isn't a great time."

"I've been waiting all day for one of your team to contact me and I've heard nothing."

"Well we have been a little busy today."

"What is more important than stopping the Order?"

"If you know what's good for you you'll come back in the morning."

Jessie had just stood up when the door opened and Butch entered the room, followed quickly by Meowth. Jessie sighed to herself. Great, this was all she needed.

"What do you want?" Jessie snapped. Now that they were back in the HQ she felt less inclined to continue the pleasantries that they had done before. Even though Megumi had stated that they had to work together, Jessie just couldn't bring herself to set aside her differences and she knew that Cassidy would feel the same way. There was too much history between them and knowing that Cassidy was also behind all of the horrors of the future that Megumi showed them made Jessie even more distrustful of Cassidy and Butch.

"We all need to talk," Butch stated just as abruptly. "Where's James?"

"He's still at the hospital for overnight observation."

"Well can we speak in the morning?"

"He won't be here in the morning. He's going home with his parents to try and stop them from being killed."

"Is that wise? Team Rocket assassins are ruthless. Being an agent won't help him if the Boss really wants the Morgan's dead," Butch pointed out.

"They are his parents. What would you have him do?" Jessie shot back in defence of her partner.

"That's not what you said a few minutes ago," Meowth pointed rather unhelpfully and this gave Jessie cause to smack him over the head.

"Shut up you mangy furball."

"Jessie--" Butch tried again but at this point Jessie had really had enough.

"Get lost, Butch. James, Meowth and I don't need your help. We'll stop the Order without you or Cassidy."

"Cassidy has no interest in helping us," Butch replied to this.

"Good," Jessie snapped. "The further she stays away from this the better, and if you have any sense then you'll do the same thing."

"Jessie--"

"Just leave us alone. We'll manage fine without you."

"Okay," Butch snarled in response, finally losing his temper. "If you want to try then go right ahead. Be my guest."

"Thank you," Jessie shouted as he stalked out of the room, the door swinging shut behind him with a resounding thud. This brought about more complaints from the team in the room next to them but Jessie paid them little heed.

"You know, Jess--" Meowth began but trailed off when he saw the look on her face. "Nothing," he said with a sigh and then he left the room also.

Jessie dismissed the cat Pokémon and sat back down on her bed. How could Megumi have expected them to work with Butch and Cassidy? If she had known what Cassidy did then she might have told them differently. Jessie thought once again to the woman that she had met inside the Order's headquarters. She had been a far cry from the Cassidy that Jessie had known.

When you get back to the present you must talk to your Cassidy. You must convince her to sell Nanba out to Giovanni. If she doesn't then all will be lost. This future will be realised and then you will all die

Perhaps it would have been better for Jessie to tell Butch of Cassidy's betrayal? Surely he would be best placed to talk to her? Whenever Jessie and Cassidy were in the same room at they did was argue. Jessie doubted that she could say anything that would make any difference.

Jessie hadn't even told James about what she had learned and she really wished that he were here so that she could confide in him now.

There was no good in thinking that, Jessie told herself. James wasn't here. She was on her own, as she always was. Strangely this gave her some strength as Jessie had always told herself to rely on no one but herself. It was why she had tried so hard not to let James become too close to her. She had been afraid that loving him would take her strength away and make her vulnerable. So many people in her life had let her down but Jessie had never thought that James would be one of them.

Even though she could understand his duty to his parents, Jessie knew that he was just going to get hurt.

_But I can't protect him from everything, not when so much else is at stake_

The first step, much as Jessie was loath to so, was talking to Cassidy, she knew. Once she had gotten Cassidy to see reason then Jessie could focus on other things. The future Cassidy seemed to think that stopping their Cassidy from lending her support to Nanba was the key. For all of their sakes, Jessie hoped that she was right.

* * *

Butch scowled at the floor as he entered the cafeteria the next morning. Even now a few curious glances were directed his way but he ignored them. He hadn't been able to sleep much last night and knew that he must look almost as rough as he felt.

Another day of humiliation in the supply rooms awaits, he thought in annoyance as he helped himself to some cereal and then surveyed the hall for a friendly face. None of his 'friends' in the black squad met his gaze, obviously not wanting to be associated with him after his recent 'demotion'. Even Jessie or Cassidy's company would have been welcome but as it was there was no one.

Great, Butch grumbled to himself and considered simply leaving. However, he then caught sight of Meowth. The cat Pokémon was seated at the back of the hall. He appeared to be on his own as well.

Despite Butch's angry words to Jessie last night, he had now calmed down enough to realise that they could not be divided on this. Things were bad enough that Cassidy refused to help let alone Jessie too. Whereas, Butch could understand James wanting to help his parents first, he was a little annoyed that the other man hadn't spoken to him since they returned. He had thought that they at last understood each other. Evidently that was wrong also.

So Butch made his way over to where Meowth was sitting and much surprised the cat by joining him.

"What do you want?" Meowth demanded. "I thought Jessie made herself clear last night?"

"So that's what you think too?" Butch asked.

Meowth hesitated a little and then shook his head. "She was just angry with James and you happened to pick the wrong moment. I'm sure once Jessie's calmed down she'll see sense."

"I'm not going to wait for her to get over herself," Butch answered to this, thinking it best to come straight to the point. "We need to find out who in Team Rocket is responsible for what's going to happen," he spoke this part very quietly to ensure that they were not overheard.

"Yeah," Meowth agreed, "but it could be any one of them. Perhaps we ought to tell the Boss what we know?" He suggested as an afterthought.

"The Boss might well be in on this entire operation," Butch pointed out, ignoring the dagger-like glare that the feline directed at him in response to this. "The first step will be to find out for sure that he can be trusted."

"He can," Meowth snapped.

"Look," Butch said with a sigh. "We have knowledge that can change the future," he began to explain as patiently as he could to the cat Pokémon, "so we need to be careful as to whom we trust with this knowledge. If we tell one wrong person then we'll all end up dead. I think we should find out for certain if Giovanni's involved first before we tell him anything."

Meowth bristled slightly at this but Butch knew that he accepted what he had been told. As much as Meowth was loyal to Giovanni, his friends' safety came first and Butch knew that he could rely on this to persuade the cat to see sense where the Boss was concerned.

"So what do you want to do?" Meowth asked grudgingly. His tone was such that Butch knew that Meowth didn't really trust or like him. This was fine. All they had to do was work together until the Order had been stopped, Butch reminded himself. None of them had to like each other.

"The Boss will be taking gym challenges this afternoon. Whilst he's occupied, we'll go into his office and look for evidence."

"Can't we just hack the computer system?" Meowth asked, obviously reluctant to break into the Boss's office. "Mondo's pretty good with computers and things. Maybe he'll help us?"

Butch frowned at this. "I saw Mondo this morning and he almost acted as though he was scared of me."

"That's because he is," Meowth stated unhelpfully.

"Maybe," Butch was sure that there had been more to it than that. He had mentioned that he needed help with something on the computer and Mondo had pretty much freaked out over it.

"Look," Butch said at length. "Just meet me here at 2pm."

"Fine." Meowth snapped back.

Butch sighed to himself. This was going to be tougher than he had thought.

* * *

Jessie had woken up the next morning to find that Meowth had already left. She hadn't spoken to him since last night and Jessie felt a little annoyed that he would just go off this morning without saying a word to her. Stupid cat, she thought grumpily as she pulled on her uniform and styled her hair.

She saw on the phone that she had three missed calls from James. A forth came through whilst she was looking but she spitefully hit 'cancel'. He could sweat for a bit longer before she put him out of his misery, Jessie thought to herself.

After getting herself ready, Jessie decided to go directly to Butch and Cassidy's room and speak to her rival straightaway. 'Best to get it over with' she thought to herself as she hurried down the corridor. Although she had no idea what she was going to say to Cassidy. The chances were that Cassidy wouldn't even believe her.

Jessie reached their room and did not hesitate in knocking on the door. There was no reply and Jessie decided that they had probably gone to get some breakfast. She was about to head in the direction of Butch and Cassidy's room when she saw Mondo hurrying down the corridor.

The younger Rocket appeared somewhat worried about something and would have walked right passed Jessie had she not called out his name.

"Miss Jessie, good morning," Mondo greeted her but it was without his usual enthusiasm. "It's nice to see you back in Viridian," he added shyly. "I've missed you."

Jessie forced a smile at this. "It's good to see you too, Mondo. You haven't seen Cassidy around have you?"

At this his expression changed to almost like a Ratatta caught in headlights. "No, Miss Jessie," Mondo stammered. "Not since yesterday."

Jessie frowned at this, "What's wrong, Mondo?"

"Nothing, Miss Jessie," he squeaked. "I really should be going. I have some errands to run for the Boss and--"

"No, something's wrong," Jessie stepped in front of him and blocked his path. "Has Cassidy been hassling you?"

"No," he shook his head but Jessie could tell that he was lying.

"Mondo, what has she said?"

"Miss Jessie," Mondo all but pleaded, "I don't want to get into any trouble."

"You won't," Jessie assured him. "What's she said to you?"

"I helped her out, that's all," Mondo insisted and the tone in his voice was such that Jessie decided to let the matter drop.

"Okay," she said, "but if she gives you any hassle then let me know."

"Will do," Mondo gave her a shy smile at this, "Thanks, Miss Jessie."

He turned to go on his way again but paused as though he had just remembered something. "Cassidy's down in the labs. She's helping Professor Nanba out with some project or something."

Jessie felt a chill at his words and the casual manner of which they were spoken. "Thanks, Mondo," she forced herself to reply as lightly but as soon as Mondo had turned a corner, Jessie picked up her pace.

_This future will be realised and then you will all die_

As Jessie reached the labs she couldn't help but again think of the future Cassidy's warning and it made her cold all over to think of it. There was no option; they had to succeed in halting Nanba no matter what the price.

Once she reached the door that led into the labs, Jessie realised that she hadn't really thought about what she was going to say to Cassidy at all. She couldn't tell her the truth, could she? Even after all that they had seen Jessie doubted that Cassidy would believe this. She would probably accuse Jessie of lying or trying to turn the others against her. Most likely both, Jessie thought with a frown. However, as much as she disliked Cassidy, Jessie knew that she had to forget about their bad history and concentrate on the present.

She pushed open the door to the labs and stepped inside. She had only been inside once before to retrieve a file for the Boss several years ago but the rooms hadn't changed much in those few years. There was a row of white cabinets stacked against the far back wall. These contained all the standard equipment and there was a separate cabinet for the medicines. This was locked, Jessie found on closer inspection. There were also some doors leading to some small offices but it was the door at the back of the room marked 'strictly authorised personnel only' that caught Jessie's attention. Thankfully the lab appeared to be deserted and she swiftly crossed the room and gently pushed the door. It moved a little indicating that it was not locked.

All appeared silent from within and Jessie pushed the door harder this time until it swung fully open. She barely stifled a shocked gasp at what lay on the other side of it.

There were rows and rows of cages containing different Pokémon that teams had captured. Some seemed healthy enough but many of them where slumped on the floor to the cages. There were even some that Jessie suspected were dead.

The mere sight of this was enough to make her want to turn from Team Rocket and never look back. Of course, she knew that Team Rocket scientists tested their inventions on Pokémon but the projects were harmless; mainly elixirs to boost Pokémon power and the like. This… this was sick and Jessie knew that Giovanni would never sanction it. It was a gut instinct and one that she couldn't fully explain but she felt the truth to it. Giovanni was not involved in this.

"What are you doing?" A voice called out and Jessie whirled around with a small cry. The door swung shut with a slam and Jessie flinched at the noise. Yet relief tinged her momentary panic when she saw Cassidy standing before her. The orange haired woman was wearing a white lab coat over her Team Rocket uniform and was carrying a clipboard, which she set down as she took a step towards Jessie.

"That area's restricted," she said coldly. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you," Jessie forced down the urge to snipe back at her rival. She had to remain focused and not get involved in another petty dispute.

"Well I have work to do and I suspect you do too," Cassidy stated and turned away from her.

"There are more important things than work," Jessie retorted to this. "Or have you forgotten what happened yesterday?"

For a moment the cold indifference on her face wavered but this was quickly masked, "Those events might not even occur. I might have guessed that you would believe that foolishness."

"It is not foolishness," Jessie replied, allowing some anger into her voice at this. "We can stop this now and save the lives of everyone that we care about."

"The future isn't set in stone," Cassidy dismissed this as she walked back into her office. Jessie was quick to follow in her wake. "There are many possibilities based on the decisions we make."

"Did it ever occur to you that that future might be changed by a decision that you make?"

Cassidy's eyes narrowed at this, "What are you talking about?"

Yet there was something in her voice, something that made Jessie's heart sink. She had known Cassidy for even longer than she had James and she could read the other woman just as easily as she could when they were younger.

"You know don't you? You know about the Wild Fire project and the Pokévirus 2. That's why Professor Oak's lab was broken into. Nanba was after his research on the Pokévirus wasn't he?"

"Don't," Cassidy shook her head. "You don't know what you're getting involved in, Jess."

"I do. Do you know what happened to me in the future whilst I was held captive by the Order? I met you. I saw what you became. You caused all of it and now you're going to betray Team Rocket again."

"Perhaps I am," Cassidy challenged, "so what are you going to do about it, Jessie?"

"I'm going to the Boss and I'm going to tell him everything. He'll deal with Nanba and shut this operation down."

"I'd think about that if I were you."

"There's nothing to think about. You've aligned yourself with Nanba and you're not going to change my mind."

The mask again slipped and this time Jessie saw fear in Cassidy's eyes before she forced this away. However, her expression remained one of pain. "You'd love to think that I'm evil and heartless wouldn't you, Jessie? You so much want to believe that, that you'll blind yourself to the truth. Do you really think that I would do that? Am I really that sort of person?"

"I don't know," Jessie shook her head; "it seems that way to me."

"Well I'm not, not willingly," Cassidy was forced to turn away so that she hid her tears. "Go and tell Giovanni if you want but I suggest that you really think about this. Nanba already has trial stocks of the virus in his possession. He keeps a vile on his person at all times in case he is betrayed. If you tell the Boss now then you'll merely be sentencing me, and others like me, to death. Nanba will escape and the virus will still be unleashed. You won't save your precious team, Jessie, and you certainly won't save the world."

* * *

"I still don't think that we can trust her," Rich said uneasily as he took a drag from the cigarette that he was smoking. Nanba scowled at this filthy habit but refrained from saying anything this time. He had sought refuge in the depths of the Viridian City base, far away from those who might overhear him speak of the next steps to his plan. With the virus close to being fully developed and incurable, he knew that certain actions must now be taken to cover his tracks until it was too late for him to be stopped. These certain actions included all who had made an unknowing financial contribution to the project.

Nanba had covered his tracks well so far but people would talk and this he could not risk. There was already one who had contacted him, demanding to know how his donation to Silph had been spent. It was a well-publicised fact that Silph was owned by the Viridian City gym leader and already the man had threatened to contact Giovanni directly. Giovanni himself had remained unaware of these donations as Nanba had complete control of the Silph organisation.

"We can't," Nanba replied, referring to Rich's reservations about Cassidy. Rich had been his most loyal servant from the beginning and had given the project his unwavering support. However, Cassidy was another story. "Fear will control her but we can never trust her. Still, for the time being she is useful."

Although he could not explain it, Nanba had felt that it was of the utmost importance that Cassidy was on side, even if it was through fear that he obtained her cooperation.

"Here's the list of the donators," Nanba handed Rich the print out from his computer. "Make sure that they are dealt with."

"Consider it done, but what of the other matter? Would you like me to deal with that also?"

"I presume you are talking about the heir?"

"I am. They could be a problem later on if not eliminated sooner."

Nanba considered his words for a moment or too. The heir was a new development and one that had only recently come to his attention. He had not thought that they presented too much of a risk but he supposed it would be better to deal with them now than leave anything to chance.

"Do it," he ordered and Rich smiled coldly at his words.

Events were, so far, playing right into Nanba's hand and, at this moment, he felt certain that his aspirations would be realised. Soon he would not only control Team Rocket, but the entire Kanto region would be at his mercy.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Assassin**

"I'm busy, leave a message."

James sighed to himself as he heard Jessie's voicemail message for what seemed like the millionth time that morning. As he set his phone down on the bedside cabinet once more James supposed it was to be expected that she could be angry with him but surely she had to understand that he couldn't just let his parents die? Even if they didn't love him, James loved them and couldn't abandon them to that, no matter how they had treated him.

Growlie, sensing his master's unhappiness, gently nuzzled his hand and James smiled despite himself. Yet this was also tinged with pain as Growlie also faced death should the Order succeed. If they didn't do something then they would lose everyone they cared about.

"James dear?" James looked up as Judith entered his bedroom. Since he'd returned home his parents had been as controlling as ever before and they weren't best pleased when James insisted on bringing Growlie into the main house. As he didn't have any of his own clothes with him, he'd had to put on one of the hideous suits that had been laid out for him. He'd not bothered with the tie and he could see how this annoyed his proper and perfect mother. However, she did not say anything to this effect.

"We've got to be leaving soon. Are you sure you won't come with us? I'm sure the Stanton's would be so glad to see you after all this time."

His parents had an engagement that morning with Isabella and Robert Stanton who were equally as wealthy and scornful of him as his parents were. Their son was a year older than James and had been privately schooled, of course. He would be leaving for college soon and was already engaged to a wealthy heiress from the Orange Islands.

"No thank you, mother," James replied and he could sense that Judith was a little put out by this.

"Hopkins is driving us, of course, so you'll be on your own for most of the morning," she said after allowing a few minutes of silence to pass between them.

"That's fine," James answered to this. In fact it suited him better as it meant he could do some investigating whilst they were out.

Judith still appeared annoyed for most likely the two of them assumed that James had agreed to come home as he was ready to face up to his 'responsibilities'. This was the furthest thing from James's mind, however, for as soon as he'd found a way to save them he'd be leaving again. This kind of life just wasn't for him and being back here reiterated this to him.

Judith left the room after this brief conversation and after a few minutes James did too. His bedroom in their summer home still contained his childhood toys, James had found upon arriving here last night. This he found himself a little saddened by for his room contained every single toy that all the kids his age back then had wished for and yet none of them had made James happy. His parent's homes represented nothing but misery for him and it had been so difficult for him to return here.

Before he left the room, James checked his phone again and there was still no message from Jessie. Even though James admired her toughness he now wished that she would just swallow her pride and answer him. He was starting to worry and despite knowing that she was safe within the headquarters, James couldn't help but feel concerned.

Once downstairs James heard his father's voice coming from his study. The door was, as always, closed and had James had tried the handle he would have most likely found it locked as well. James cast a glance around the hall and when he realised that he was alone aside from Growlie he walked over to the door and listened to what his father was saying.

"I don't care about any excuses you might have to offer. I paid good money for your assurance and I am not overly pleased to find that the contrary has happened."

It was always about money, James thought a little sadly to himself. He'd never seen his father get upset over anything that wasn't to do with cash or investments. Neither of them cared for him and James sometimes wondered if they even loved each other or whether their marriage was of mutual connivance in order to combine their wealth.

"No. I don't want you to do that. I want your word that this will never happen again," Thomas Morgan continued furiously. There was a pause whilst the person on the other end of the phone spoke and then James's father added, "That seems acceptable. Thank you. You too. Goodbye."

James moved away from the door just as it was suddenly wrenched open. Thomas appeared a little startled to see his son in such close proximity but he quickly regained himself.

"What are you doing skulking in the corridor?" He always spoke to James as though he was a child still and James fought against the urge to snap back at him.

"Nothing father. I was on my way to the breakfast room."

"Right," Thomas still had a frown on his face but at that moment Judith came out of the lounge. She already had her coat on and was holding Thomas's coat in her hands.

"Did you sort out that little problem, dear?" She asked whilst casting a pointed look in James's direction.

"I did," Thomas confirmed.

"That's good. Now we'd best be going. We really don't want to be more than fashionably late do we?"

"Not at all. We will be back around midday," Thomas said as he turned to James. "Try not to do anything that might cause us further embarrassment whilst we're gone."

"I won't, father," James said with a sigh and he felt Growlie nuzzle his leg as he sensed the dejection in his master's tone. Did they really think that little of him?

James went through to the breakfast room whilst they were leaving. There was already a place set out for him and a box of cornflakes had been left out on the table. The breakfast room was one of the smaller rooms in the house. It contained a polished oak dinning table and red velvet cushioned chairs. There was an expensive looking oriental vase in the middle of the table, which contained some glass hand-made red and white roses. Judith suffered from allergies and so real flowers were not permitted in the house itself. James sighed to himself as he slumped down in a chair at the end of the table where the place had been set for him. For the first time in a long while he didn't feel hungry but he forced himself to have a small bowl of cornflakes as he recalled the doctor's orders that he had to eat to keep his strength up. After doing so, James had Growlie do a quick check of the house and when the dog Pokémon confirmed that they were alone, James quickly made his way back to his father's study.

He felt a strange sense of apprehension as he approached the door. He had only sneaked in here once as a boy and when his father found out he'd received a beating as a result. Memories of this resurfaced now and James swallowed hard as he tried the door handle. Much to his surprise it was unlocked and turned easily. Most likely Thomas had not bothered with locking it since James ran away as Judith would never even consider prying into her husband's financial affairs. James felt a little guilty at doing so but he had to find out just what they were involved in that was going to get them both killed.

As he turned the handle, James felt a small jolt of pain from his arm, a reminder that the wound was still sore and he grimaced a little at this. Still he forced it out of his mind as he entered. Commanding Growlie to keep an eye out, James shut it gently behind him and started to look around. The desk was neat and orderly and the current paperwork was stacked into a pile at one end. There was an old-fashioned quill pen and inkpot in the middle and several blank sheets of paper. There were also rows of shelves stacked with various files. They were all named in his father's handwriting and none of the companies were names that he recognised.

James went over to the desk first and leafed through the papers whilst being mindful that he should not get them out of order or else his father would know in an instant that he had been in here. A chill went through him when James came across the standard thank you letter from the Viridian Gym and it brought about a reminder of the very painful memory of him standing in this very room in the future knowing that they were both dead.

James swallowed hard and forced himself to finish looking through the papers. Aside from some bills and thank you letter there was little of interest and James wasn't sure where to look next. He then caught sight of the telephone on the other end of the desk. His father had a private line installed years ago for making private business calls and no one else aside from him was permitted to answer it. Thomas had always been very cagey in his business affairs and even his own wife knew little of them. Recalling the heated conversation that morning, James leaned over the desk and picked up the receiver. He then pressed the redial button. He had expected to be connected to one of his father's business contacts and so James was stunned when the other end was picked up and answered in a very familiar way.

"Good morning. Viridian Gym. How may I help you?"

James even recognised Daphne, one of the clerical staff that Giovanni hired, as being the person on the other end of the phone.

"Sorry, wrong number," he managed to choke out before hanging up. James felt a little sick inside as he again recalled his father's furious temper. Surely he wouldn't dare speak to the Boss in such a tone? Perhaps that was why Giovanni had them killed? This somehow didn't seem right to James. The Boss might have a short-temper himself but he certainly wouldn't have people killed over a business disagreement.

There was more to discover here, James was certain of it and so he continued looking. The minutes soon stretched into an hour and just as James was considering giving up a file at the end of a row caught his eye. The handwriting was particularly bad on this one and he was unable to make out the name of the company. So he pulled it off of the shelf and went to sit at his father's desk with it. Flicking the front cover back, James was surprised to find a similar thank you note in the front slot. In fact it was almost identical to the one from the Viridian Gym except that this one was from Silph Co. Also, Professor Nanba and not Giovanni had signed it. James had only encountered Professor Nanba, the Team Rocket scientist, a few times and he did not like the man at all. The Lugia incident came to the forefront of his mind and he recalled how cruelly and ruthlessly Nanba had behaved. Even though the Boss profited from Pokémon he always treated his own kindly. Nanba cared little for any Pokémon and James felt sorry for any who were in the Professor's possession.

Why would his parents donate to Silph Co. too? James wondered to himself as he continued to leaf through the file. He was certain that his father would be unaware of the connection to Team Rocket or the Viridian Gym. James then found his answer soon than he had thought. In the back of the file there was a share certificate for Silph Co. His father not only donated to Silph but also held shares in the company? Something about this unsettled James slightly. Also there was the question of why Thomas bothered to donate to something that he financially gained from anyway? It just didn't make any sense to James at all.

The sound of a door opening somewhere else in the house made James jump and he hurriedly closed the file and put it back on the shelf. He glanced around the room to ensure that nothing was left out of place and as he did so the study door opened.

At a first glance, the woman standing in the doorway looked so much like Jessie. It was only the different style in hair, and the slight variation in her eye colour that told James differently. Her eyes were also a lot colder than Jessie's and narrowed a little unpleasantly as she gazed upon him.

"G-Growlie," James called out for the canine and he only heard a small whimper coming from the hallway. With strength that James didn't realise that he possessed he hurriedly pushed passed her and cried out when he saw the Pokémon collapsed in the corridor.

"What have you done to him?" James demanded furiously.

"Don't worry ma sweet, it's only a little stunspore," Jessiebell said with a smirk. "It'll wear off before long."

James realised at that moment that he had left Weezing and Victreebell upstairs in his room. He was completely helpless should she decide to use her Pokémon on him as she often had in the past. The thought of running crossed his mind but she always caught him.

"Don't look so worried," Jessiebell continued as she stepped towards him. "When mother and father told me of your return I was so overjoyed that I just had to see you again."

"They told you I was here?" James felt a burst of anger directed at his parents at her words. They had lied to him and he was so stupid for trusting them in the first place. All they cared about was having him married and he should have known that nothing would change this. Jessie had been right all along.

"Of course they did," Jessiebell replied, her voice was sickeningly sweet and this completely belied the cruel and manipulative woman that she actually was. Only James knew the truth and because of Jessiebell's good reputation no one believed him when he said otherwise.

"Please leave," James said even though he knew that she would not heed his request.

"Oh James must you be that way? I just want to talk to you."

"We have nothing to say to each other, Jessiebell."

"James dear, please don't be like that. You know we are made for each other."

"We're not," James started to protest frantically as she drew nearer. A part of him was so angry with himself that he still let her frighten him. How could he hope to stop the Order if he couldn't stand up to her? "Jessiebell--"

James broke off when he heard the sound of glass breaking at the other end of the corridor. Jessiebell obviously had not heard it as she started to speak again until James snapped at her to be quiet. Momentarily stunned by his tone, Jessiebell actually did as he asked. James could now hear low voices and although he could not make out the words, he suddenly knew for certain that whoever it was meant them harm.

Quickly he gathered Growlie up into his arms and motioned for Jessiebell to open the study door.

"Why? What is going on?" She asked, her voice suddenly becoming unsure when she saw the fear in James's eyes.

She opened the door and James set Growlie down on the floor under the desk and indicated that she should come inside too. For once she was being cooperative and again demanded to know what was going on.

James did not answer her and went to the phone and picked up the receiver. There was no dial tone; the line was dead. James realised in dismay that he'd left his mobile phone upstairs too. The voices hadn't got any closer and James suspected that they were looking in the rooms nearest the window that they had entered through first. That meant there was still time to get help. James had never been a leader and he'd never really considered himself to be very brave but when he saw the genuine fear in Jessiebell's eyes he knew that he had to try and do something.

A quick check of the study door revealed it also locked from the inside and James went to the window next and quietly pulled the blind down.

"When I've gone, lock the door and don't come out until I return."

"Why?" Jessiebell demanded quietly. "What is going on?"

"Those men are very dangerous. I need to try and raise the alarm."

"Are they from Team Rocket? I knew that evil organisation would get you into trouble one day. What will your poor parents say when they return and find their fine things in such disarray?"

"Those men have come to kill my parents," James snapped back, "and they will kill us if they find us here. Just keep quiet and don't come out unless I tell you to."

"James dear--" Jessiebell again started to protest but James dismissed her objections and moved over to the door. He was trembling as he opened it and he fully expected to be looking down the barrel of a gun when he stepped outside. However, there was still no sign of the assassins, much to his relief. He shut the door behind him and was relieved when he heard Jessiebell turn the inside lock after he had done this.

James crossed the hall and made his way into the lounge. There was a silver old-fashioned style telephone in there but when he picked up the receiver he found this to be dead also.

His parents had installed a security system but Team Rocket were professional criminals after all and the assassins had been specially trained to circumvent such measures.

James knew that he had to try and get to his room so that he could get his phone and his Pokémon. He knew that he couldn't risk going up the main stairs but there was a set of stairs leading off from the breakfast room, which were mainly used by the servants. Thankfully the hallway was still deserted and James was able to get to them without incident. His heart was beating almost painfully in his chest as he struggled to contain the panicked thoughts that were threatening to overwhelm him. This wasn't meant to happen yet. He had a day at least before the assassins arrived. The only thing that James could think of that answered this was that they had already started to make an impact on the future. James didn't really understand how they could have changed things but they must have done.

He could hear the men in the hallway now and James hurriedly climbed the stairs. The stairway led onto the main landing and he could now hear the men taking the main staircase. James fought against the urge to run for his room, knowing that they would detect even the slightest noise. The only thing that he had on his side was the fact that he knew the layout of the house and they didn't. He hovered a few steps down from the top of the stairs, which was partly concealed from view of the main staircase by a large fern in an oriental style pot. The men did not glance in his direction and instead continued towards the master bedroom.

James waited until they entered the bedroom before making his move. His own room was just a few doors away from where he was at the moment and so he had anticipated reaching it without confrontation. He was almost there when the men suddenly reappeared too quickly for him to reach his room. James felt terror lance through him as a shot rang out and it struck the wooden panelling of the wall next to him. He froze in panic as the two men approached him. The first one kept his gun trained on James whilst the second one demanded to know where his parents were. James refused to answer. He didn't recognise either of the men although he was certain that they were aware that he was part of Team Rocket too. However, this detail did not matter to them and would not cause them to spare his life, James knew. Roughly the second man grabbed him by the arm and forced him back with them towards the stairs. James did not try to fight against this. He knew there was little point for they would simply kill him and then await his parents' return.

Once they were back on the ground floor the man holding him slammed James against the nearest wall and again they demanded to know where his parents were.

"You can do what you like to me I'm not going to tell you anything," James said, hoping that he sounded braver than he actually felt. Even though the thought of dying terrified him, James somehow wished that they would just kill him for when he felt the barrel of a gun being pressed against his temple he felt terror in the knowledge that fear might cause him to betray them after all. James closed his eyes, silently willing for them to shoot and yet at the same time willing for something – anything – to help him.

"What are you doing to ma beloved James? Unhand him this instant you ruffians."

James opened his eyes when he heard that familiar southern accent and the man released his grip on James.

Jessiebell stood in the hallway and appeared unfazed by the guns that the men were carrying. She had already released her Vileplume from its Pokéball and ordered it to use stunspore before the men could react. James was able to get out of the way just in time as the cloud struck the men and they fell to the floor. He was unable to believe it. Jessiebell had actually helped him. She smiled in triumph at her victory and stepped over the prone bodies of the assassins so that she could get to James.

"That'll teach those scoundrels to break into mother and father's fine home," she said with satisfaction.

James could only nod in disbelief as he struggled to regain himself a little after the shock had slightly worn off. However, this was short-lived relief.

James heard the single shot ring out and then silence settled in the house as the second assassin slumped back down, the gun sliding from his grasp as the stunspore completely gained its hold on its victim. Glancing up at Jessiebell's face, James saw shock in her blue-green eyes as a small red dot appeared in the front of her white blouse. It gradually got bigger and she slumped to her knees even as James raced forward and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Jessiebell?" James gently guided her to lie down on the floor. He had to call for help but when he went to stand she reached out and caught hold of his wrist.

"J-James…" she trailed off as a look of pain overtook her porcelain features and then her grip on his wrist loosened. James watched in disbelief as the light in her eyes faded and her hand fell back down at her side.

"Jessiebell?" He shook her in a bid to rouse her but he knew deep down that she was dead. The bullet had struck her heart.

James knew that he had to get up, that he had to get help but he just couldn't bring himself to move. All of their past history no longer mattered in his mind. He should have got her to safety first. Her death was his fault. In the future she hadn't died. By meddling, James had caused her death and this was something that he could never forgive himself for.

* * *

_Go and tell Giovanni if you want but I suggest that you really think about this. Nanba already has trial stocks of the virus in his possession. He keeps a vile on his person at all times in case he is betrayed. If you tell the Boss now then you'll merely be sentencing me, and others like me, to death. Nanba will escape and the virus will still be unleashed. You won't save your precious team, Jessie, and you certainly won't save the world._

Jessie walked around the headquarters for a good half an hour or so after her confrontation with Cassidy. Her rival's words had struck a chord with her and Jessie needed some time alone to think. Even though she had known Cassidy for years, Jessie just couldn't decide whether or not she was being truthful in her words.

_You'd love to think that I'm evil and heartless wouldn't you, Jessie? You so much want to believe that, that you'll blind yourself to the truth. Do you really think that I would do that? Am I really that sort of person?_

She was being truthful was Jessie's first thought. Even though Cassidy was spiteful and manipulative she was not evil. She had seen the suffering that the Order had caused as much as Jessie had and even Cassidy couldn't be that cruel. Then again she had only ever cared about herself. What if Nanba had bought her loyalty? If that was the case then Jessie knew that she had to go to Giovanni right away. However, if Cassidy was being forced into aiding him then Jessie would be signing her death warrant. Giovanni didn't care for these details and would have her killed regardless of the reasons behind her actions.

Jessie didn't know what to think and she wished James were here now more than ever. James could read people in a way that she couldn't. He'd be able to tell if Cassidy was lying to them. The Cassidy that Jessie had met in the future had certainly been telling the truth but she had ultimately gone along with Nanba's evil plans and Jessie knew that she could not place her trust in the present Cassidy just because her future self harboured so many regrets.

_Then perhaps she ought to tell Butch…_

This line of thought was abruptly cut off when Jessie heard her name being called. She glanced up when she saw Rich approaching her.

"What do you want?" She snapped although Rich appeared unfazed by her tone.

"I've got orders from the Boss for you," he answered as he handed Jessie a piece of paper. On it was some typed instructions. Apparently the Boss wanted a team to go out to Mount Moon and collect some moonstones for selling on the black-market. She sighed to herself at this, recalling their less than successful mission to Mount Moon over a year ago.

"James isn't here at the moment. You'll have to give that to another team," Jessie said as she handed the piece of paper back to him.

"You don't need a partner for this work. The Boss has arranged for a Grunt to go with you."

"Fine," Jessie snapped knowing that she couldn't get out of an order from the Boss, no matter how bad timing it was. "When does he want me to go?"

"Straightaway. There's a car waiting for you outside the gym."

Jessie nodded and, content that the message had been delivered, Rich went on his way. At least some time away from the headquarters would give her some time to think things through some more, Jessie thought to herself. She could decide what she was going to do about Cassidy upon her return.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: Heir**

Meowth hovered apprehensively outside of Giovanni's office awaiting Butch's arrival. It was almost quarter passed two now and the green haired man was running late. This added to Meowth's nervousness and he was considering just leaving when Butch finally appeared. He seemed a little harassed and wouldn't have offered Meowth an explanation as to why he was late had the cat Pokémon not asked for one.

"I got caught up in the storerooms," he grumbled. "Mondo went on a late lunch and if the Boss found out I'd left the rooms unattended I'd be in even more trouble."

Meowth couldn't help but smirk a little at this although he quickly forced the expression from his face when he saw that Butch did not appreciate his amusement.

"Did you see the Boss leave?" Butch asked, keen to get to the matter in hand.

"No," Meowth shook his head. He'd been cutting it a little fine himself as he'd been looking for Jessie for most of the morning. She'd obviously left the base though as Meowth couldn't find her anywhere. It had been whilst searching for Jessie that Meowth had seen that Professor Nanba and one his lackeys acting suspiciously. They had been making their way down to one of the furthest levels within the base, which was usually kept for storage and such like. Meowth hadn't liked the shifty way they were looking and so he had followed them. He'd caught the end of a cryptic conversation between them. Meowth wasn't sure what it meant but he hadn't liked the tone one bit.

_"Consider it done, but what of the other matter? Would you like me to deal with that also?"_

_"I presume you are talking about the heir?"_

_"I am. They could be a problem later on if not eliminated sooner."_

_"Do it,"_

Butch cut into his thoughts once more by reaching up and knocking on the office door.

"What are you doing that for?" Meowth hissed.

"We need to know if he's in there, don't we?" Butch reasoned. They both stood with baited breath and Meowth caught a small sigh of relief from the human when a few minutes passed and the knock went unanswered.

"Come on then," Butch said as he turned the handle. "Let's get this over with."

"Wait a second," Meowth said, as Nanba and Rich's words once again echoed in his mind. "I think we should be spying on that Professor Nanba. I overheard a conversation he was having earlier and it sounded pretty suspicious."

Butch appeared doubtful at this and after a couple of moments of consideration he shook his head. "We need to make certain that the Boss isn't involved. There's no point in finding out who is behind the virus if we don't know if we can tell Giovanni or not."

This did make sense and Meowth knew that nothing he said would persuade Butch otherwise anyway. With a sigh the cat Pokémon followed Butch into the room. The office was empty and Meowth jumped slightly as the door shut behind them. He felt very much on edge and this intensified when Butch started leafing through the contents of the Boss's desk.

"Are you just going to stand there?" Butch snapped irritably as he went over to the filing cabinet that was against the back wall and began to look through the various files. Meowth reluctantly padded across the floor and jumped up onto the desk to double check the paperwork that Butch had discarded. As he was doing so he heard a chuckle coming from the green haired man.

"What's so funny?"

"Have you really messed up that many missions?"

Meowth yelled angrily when he realised that Butch was looking through their team's personnel files and he jumped from the desk to try and snatch the file from Butch's hands.

"Have you seen what he says about you? It's a wonder you're still working for Team Rocket," Butch said with amusement as he avoided Meowth's paws.

Meowth scowled at the green haired man at this. They had all seen exactly what Giovanni thought of them but had chosen not to take any notice of the scathing report, rather consoling themselves with the parts that could be seen as flattering.

_The Boss thinks I'm stupendous_

Meowth chuckled to himself as he heard James's voice in his mind echoing the parts of the report. At that moment Meowth realised how much he missed the team and he wished that James would return to Viridian City. It wasn't right that they should be divided at a time like this.

"Stop messing about," Meowth snapped at Butch in a bid to refocus his mind on the task at hand. "We've got to find something before the Boss gets back."

However, Butch was no longer listening to Meowth. He was still studying their file and the smirk on his face was gradually replaced by one of stunned disbelief.

"Meowth, you knew who Jessie's mother was didn't you?"

"Yeah," Meowth nodded a little impatiently. Miyamoto was greatest agent in Team Rocket history and Jessie was constantly getting ridiculed over the fact that she couldn't live up to the expectations that had been put upon her because of Miyamoto's legacy.

"What's that got to do with anything?" The cat Pokémon questioned.

"Well… you're not going to believe this," Butch said quietly as he set the file back down on the desk. Meowth jumped back onto it to get a better view of what exactly Butch was talking about it. They had only looked at their files briefly on the computer and none of them had bothered to look passed the pages that contained their records out on the field and the Boss's notes regarding them. In the back of the file there was copies of Jessie and James's birth certificates. At a first glance Meowth didn't see just what Butch was talking about other than being mildly surprised that Giovanni would investigate their backgrounds enough to obtain any personal details. Of course, Jessie was a rocket baby and so Giovanni would have this information any way but the fact that he knew of James's background did come as a surprise. However, on closer inspection, Meowth saw what had Butch so shocked and the cat Pokémon felt his own jaw drop despite himself.

"What?" He all but shrieked as he re-read the names in case he was somehow reading it wrong. There was no mistake, however. It was written there as clear as day. Giovanni DiAngelo… Jessie's father.

"There was always talk that Miyamoto and the Boss were close, closer than Madame Boss approved of," Butch said quietly. "Of course no one really thought that there was anything more to it than that. Does Jessie know?"

Meowth shook his head, "Jessie's never mentioned her father. If she knew who he was then she would have told us."

This was just impossible to process, Meowth thought to himself although it did explain why the Boss hadn't thrown them out of Team Rocket long ago.

_"I presume you are talking about the heir?"_

_"I am. They could be a problem later on if not eliminated sooner."_

_"Do it,"_

The conversation that he'd overheard between Professor Nanba and Rich suddenly came to the forefront of Meowth's mind once more and he stopped cold as the realisation of what exactly it meant dawned upon him.

"Giovanni's not involved in any of this," he said as he leapt down from the desk.

"Wait a minute," Butch hurried after the cat Pokémon, confusion entering his voice at this. "How do you know?"

"That conversation I overheard earlier. They were talking about getting rid of the heir. What if they were talking about Jessie? The Boss wouldn't have his own daughter killed!"

"Megumi said there was a reason why the five of us were important," Butch said quietly. "Without a leader Team Rocket has no direction. It would be easy for the Wild Fire Order to take it over without the need for force."

"Then we need to find her first!" Meowth cried out impatiently when he saw that Butch was still hesitating. "Come on!"

"If they're making their move then Giovanni is in danger too."

"When we've found Jessie we'll warn him," Meowth said as he raced from the room and almost collided with Mondo in the process. The younger Rocket managed to jump to the side in time before cheerfully greeting Meowth, although his smile faded a little when he saw Butch.

"What are you doing here?" Butch demanded.

"I was dropping off the weekly stock-check," Mondo replied, a little nervously. "What are you two doing in the Boss's office?"

"Never mind that. Have you seen Jessie?" Meowth asked frantically.

"I saw her an hour or so ago," Mondo answered, his expression becoming a little worried at Meowth's tone. "She was just leaving the headquarters."

"Why? Did she say where she was going?"

"Something about a mission for the Boss. One of the grunts from the laboratory was with her. I thought it a little odd because James wasn't there."

Meowth's heart skipped a beat at this information.

_No…_

"Did she tell you what this mission was?"

"Something about going to Mt Moon. She wasn't that pleased about it-"

"We have to go after them!" Meowth turned to Butch and practically yelled this at him.

"I know," Butch replied, clearly torn as he added, "but the chances are that they'll make their move against the Boss at the same time. If we leave then he doesn't stand a chance either."

"Mondo," Meowth turned to the younger boy who clearly realised that something terrible was about to happen and that it involved Jessie. "Have you got your phone with you?"

"Yeah," he slipped the handset out from his pocket and held it up so that the cat Pokémon could see it.

"Then call her. Tell her to ditch the grunt and come back."

"No," Butch cut Meowth off. "If she finds out what they're up to then they'll just kill her."

"They could at any minute anyways!"

"They won't. They chose Mt Moon because there they can make it look like an accident. The drive will take a few hours because they have to go around the forest rather than through it. If we take the balloon we can intercept them."

"What's going on?" Mondo demanded shrilly. "Who's going to hurt Miss Jessie?"

Butch did not reply and instead he snatched Mondo's phone from his hand and hurriedly dialled a number. "Police please."

"What is he doing?" Mondo exclaimed in fright at this.

"I don't know," Meowth replied in horror. What the hell _was _Butch playing at? They couldn't get the police involved.

"Listen up. There has been a bomb planted in the Viridian City Gym. No, I'm not going to tell you my name. Just get a squad to the Gym as soon as possible. This is not a hoax."

Butch hung up and tossed the phone back to Mondo. "You might want to get rid of that."

"What the hell did you do that for?" Meowth demanded.

"Think about it. If the police show up at the gym then the Boss will be busy dealing with them all afternoon. No one from the Order will be able to get near to him. That gives us time to save Jessie."

Mondo kept pace with them as they started to run down the corridor. "Meowth, what's going on?" He demanded, his voice raising a couple of octaves in his panic.

"Come on, Mondo, I'll explain on the way," Meowth replied.

* * *

The uncharacteristic silence was beginning to get through to her and Misty clutched Togepi tighter in her arms as she struggled to think of something to say. They had left the hospital and gone back to Professor Oak's lab and so far none had done anything but sit in stunned silence as they tried to come to terms with the loss of their friend. The Professor blamed himself, Misty knew but he shouldn't do. How could he have known what would happen? How could any of them have known? This was a side of Team Rocket that none of them had ever seen before and it sent chills down Misty's spine. Jessie and James were bad but they couldn't be described as truly evil. Misty couldn't imagine either of them gunning down anyone, let alone someone who was little more than a child.

A small sob escaped her, the only sound to break the silence, and Brock reached out to put an arm around her shoulders, comforting her. Misty sighed and leaned into this contact.

"Why don't we put the television on?" Delia suggested quietly, leaving her seat next to her son to switch on the small set in the corner of the living room. Professor Oak's living quarters within the lab were small and they had to bring in some extra chairs from the kitchen. The Professor was seated on one of these and Gary was beside him, not wanting to leave his grandfather when so much grief and guilt weighed down upon him.

Delia put the television set on low, just for the want to have something to break through the silence it would seem. There was a nature programme on but none of them could concentrate too much on the television. Misty cast a glance at Ash, recalling his angry words in the hospital.

_No, I'm going to make them and the rest of Team Rocket pay for what they did_

Misty had never seen her friend so furious and so hurt before. She feared what he might do but so far Ash had been as silent as the rest of them. Even Pikachu was subdued and stayed near to his trainer. At this moment Misty wondered if things would ever be the same again.

Then her gaze momentarily flickered back to the television set as the nature programme was suddenly cut off and in its place came a serious looking newsreader. The words 'breaking news' flashed over the screen before she began to speak.

"There have been unconfirmed reports of a bomb inside the Viridian City Pokémon gym. Police have arrived at the scene with a bomb disposal unit have cordoned off the area. We understand that the gym has been evacuated and that any minute now a team will be entering the building to search for, and disarm, any device that is found."

The scene then cut to a reporter standing in the designated safe zone. He stated the few facts that they did know; that there had been a call to the Viridian Police station fifteen minutes ago stating that there was a bomb inside of the gym. The caller had not given his name but any kind of threat had to be taken seriously.

"Do you think that Team Rocket's involved?" Delia wondered as she turned to her son.

"Yeah, I bet they're involved somehow," Ash said with a venom in his voice that caused Misty to shiver slightly. He stood up and walked from the room without another word.

"Ash!" Misty jumped up and hurried after him. "Where are you going?"

"Pika!" Pikachu raced along beside him also, voicing his concern for his trainer.

"To Viridian City," came the expected reply.

"Why?" Misty asked worriedly.

"To get some answers."

_ I'm sorry for your loss but tell that little twerp that if he goes after Team Rocket he'll be making a big mistake_

"Ash, don't!" Misty cried out in anguish. "It won't bring Tracy back."

"I know," he paused and momentarily Misty saw tears in his eyes. He then forced them away and turned from the red haired girl. "But I have too."

"Then I'm coming with you," Misty decided determinedly. Even though she was certain that this was a mistake she couldn't just let Ash go off alone in the state he was in.

"Me too," Brock stated as he caught up with them. Behind them Delia, Professor Oak and Gary looked on worriedly at the three friends.

"Ash," Delia whimpered a little as she took a step towards her son. "Please don't. Let it go. Team Rocket are dangerous. I couldn't bear to lose you."

"I'm sorry," the young trainer said quietly, keeping his face turned away from his mother. "I have to go."

Delia sobbed as he slammed the outer door behind him. "We'll look after him," Misty promised as she went to follow the young man whom she loved. They had been through so many adventures together and Misty had never been as sure of her feelings as she was now. She loved Ash and intended to stay with him and look out for him no matter what and no matter how dangerous a path they were embarking down.

* * *

Jessie sighed to herself as she watched the scenery flash by as the grunt drove them towards their destination. It had been two and a half hours and finally they were nearing Mt Moon. Jessie couldn't be more fed up than she was at this moment. The grunt had not spoken more than two words to her for the entire journey and she was missing James terribly. She had refused to return his calls as she was still angry with him for leaving but now Jessie longed to hear his voice. Finally she forced herself to swallow her pride and call him. Thus she was a little put out when she just got his voice mail instead. She didn't leave a message and tossed her phone onto the dashboard. She couldn't believe the Boss had given her such a stupid mission. Searching for Moonstones could take hours and the caves made her feel claustrophobic. It didn't help that her 'partner' for this mission was being so silent. Jessie didn't even know his name.

"Are we nearly there yet?" She enquired after a few minutes.

"Not yet," came the impassive reply.

Jessie sighed and started to try and tune the radio in the car instead just for the want of something to do. However, she was getting nothing but static so she gave up and slumped back in her seat again.

"When we get there you're going to most of the work," she grumbled. "I'm not risking breaking a single nail in those horrible caves."

"Whatever," the grunt answered and kept his gaze on the road ahead. He really didn't want to make conversation and that was fine by her Jessie thought to herself. Finally the car came to a stop. Jessie sighed to herself as she got out and stomped towards the entrance to Mt Moon. Her thoughts filled with what happened last time they were here and she hoped that they didn't run into anymore Clefariy.

The grunt had paused to get some things from the boot of the car, which meant that Jessie was ahead of him. She clicked on her flashlight and glanced around feeling unsure of where to start looking. Last time they had found moonstones they had been very deep inside the cave.

The path that Jessie had taken eventually opened out into a bigger cavern and she glanced nervously at the few Zubat that were hanging upside down from the ceiling. One was watching her rather sleepily but it soon dismissed the intruder and closed its eyes again.

She looked around thinking that perhaps here would be a good place to start. The cavern wouldn't make her feel as claustrophobic and hopefully digging wouldn't take as long as they could just chip away at the cavern's sides rather than create a new hole.

Finally the grunt caught up with her and when Jessie voiced her thoughts to him he simply nodded and began riffling through his backpack. "Get to work then," she commanded as she stalked to the back of the cavern. "I don't want to be here all day."

She looked away from him momentarily and when Jessie glanced back around she was stunned to see a gun in his hand; a gun that was aimed directly at her. "Come here," he ordered quietly.

Jessie scowled thinking this was some kind of joke and as a result of this he shot at the Zubat, scattering them and the terrified creatures fled the cavern screeching their alarm as they did so.

"I'm not going to ask again."

Jessie knew better than to hesitate further. She had to do what he said. There was nowhere for her to go and he had a clean shot at her. The grunt kept the gun trained on her as he knelt down and took the rope from his backpack.

"Kneel down and put your hands behind your back."

She knelt down but as she did so she reached for the Pokéball clipped to her belt. However, the grunt was not as stupid as Jessie gave him credit for and he lunged forwards, striking her and causing her to drop it. It rolled helplessly away from her fingertips and he used her surprise to roughly yank her hands behind her back. The bonds were tight, so tight that Jessie's hands started to go numb. He tied her feet tightly too and Jessie winced at this treatment. Yet she saw seconds later that this was the least of her worries when he reached into the backpack again and pulled out one of the familiar bombs that Jessie and James used frequently in their own missions. The bombs were not powerful enough to kill unless placed practically on top of a person but Jessie soon learned that this was not what he intended it for. He grinned as he walked to the entrance of the cavern and placed the device down on the ground, all the time keeping the gun trained on her.

"The bomb won't kill you but the cave in it will cause surely will."

"Why are you doing this? Did the Boss-"

"Giovanni will be terribly saddened by your accident, but he won't live long enough to grieve your death."

"What are you talking about?" Jessie demanded furiously as fear began to finally set in. She struggled against her bonds but they were too tight for her to free herself.

"Didn't you know? You're his daughter," the grunt sneered before making his retreat. Jessie was stunned at these words although somewhere in the back of her mind reason was telling her to forget about them now and concentrate on getting out of this. Yet she couldn't. She had always wondered who her father was. Her mother had said very little about him and so the secret had died with her, or so Jessie thought. Still the grunt had to be lying. Giovanni wasn't…

The bleeping countdown of the bomb snapped her back to her senses and Jessie struggled to manoeuvre herself towards the fallen Pokéball. Arbok could bite through her bonds easily and help her escape before it went off. However, this was more difficult than she anticipated and when she finally made it precious minutes had gone by. She rolled onto her side so that she could grasp it in her bound hands and press the release mechanism on the front. Arbok knew immediately what her trainer wanted without being commanded and hurriedly chewed through the ropes.

Jessie quickly ran over to the bomb and her heart sank when she saw the display: two minutes and rapidly counting down. That wasn't time to get it from the caves. Her only chance would be to try and disarm it. Turning the device over, very carefully so as to not set it off, Jessie saw the standard two wires in the back.

"Blue or red," she murmured to herself suddenly wishing that her teammates were here. She wasn't very good at making bombs safe. In fact she had failed that part of the training.

Arbok glanced at her worriedly and Jessie quickly returned her Pokémon. At least in the Pokéball Arbok would have some protection. Going back to her current dilemma, Jessie decided to pull the blue wire out. Even though red seemed the more dangerous colour that could be a trick she told herself. With shaking fingers she took hold of the blue wire and-

"Jessie!" A familiar voice rang out almost causing her to drop the bomb.

"Meowth!"

The cat raced into the cavern quickly followed by Butch and, much to Jessie's surprise, Mondo.

"What are you doing?" Meowth demanded when he saw the bomb. "Get rid of that thing!"

"I can't," Jessie shook her head as she checked the timer. "There's just over a minute before it goes off."

"Give it here then!" Meowth yelled, snatching the bomb before Jessie could protest.

"Meowth!" The cat Pokémon turned and fled the cavern ignoring the worried calls of his friends.

"Come on," Butch said as he grabbed hold of Jessie's arm. "We've got to go."

They broke into a run and when they finally made it free of the caves Jessie could see no sign of her friend. In the distance she then heard an explosion and she immediately feared the worst. Yet before she could properly feel concern and upset Jessie heard the sound of a gun being cocked.

"What a pain," the grunt sighed in annoyance as he kept the weapon level with her head. "I planned this so carefully too. Now how am I going to make this look like an accident?"

"Yeah," Butch stated coldly and to Jessie's shock he drew his own gun. "Do you really think you can shoot all of us before I can put a bullet in your head?"

The grunt immediately turned his gun on Butch. "Now it just depends which of us is the quicker shot. Are you willing to take that chance?"

"Of course," Butch shrugged as his free hand closed around Jessie's arm and pulled her behind him. "I've got nothing to lose."

A shot rang out and Jessie flinched despite herself. The grunt cried out and sagged to one side, his gun falling from his grasp as he did so. Blood then started to well up from a bullet wound in his right thigh.

Mondo whimpered and dropped the gun, his face turning ashen as he fully realised what he'd just done. Yet another shot quickly rang out and the grunt fell fully onto the grass. Without checking him Jessie knew that he was dead.

Butch lowered his weapon and went over to them. "Are you okay?"

"You killed him," Mondo whispered in a choked voice. "Why did you do that?"

"What else could I do?" the green haired man snapped defensively to this. "He would have reported back to the Order had he of lived. We now have the advantage."

"We'd have had more of one if we could have integrated him," Meowth commented and Jessie sighed in relief as the cat Pokémon rejoined them.

"I'm just making this up as I go," Butch snapped and Jessie could tell he was a little shaken by what he'd had to do. None of them were killers, but now Jessie was starting to understand why Butch was the leader of their group. He could do this kind of thing and come out more or less unscathed by it. He was tougher than the rest of them and Jessie doubted whether herself or James could have pulled the trigger just now.

"Grunts never know anything useful anyway," Jessie said in an effort to dispel the tenseness that had befallen them. "How did you get here so quickly anyway?"

"We took the balloon," Mondo answered, recovering himself a little now. "We hid it not far from here. Are you okay?" He added shyly with some worry in his voice.

"I'm fine. Thank you," this last part was directed at all of them.

None of them could bring themselves to touch the body let alone hide it so they simply left it there. Jessie doubted the police could trace it back to them anyway. Still it did trouble her somewhat. She knew that fight against the Order would be tough but this unsettled her more than she wanted to admit to the others.

Meowth jumped up onto her shoulder as Mondo led the way back to the balloon. "Good. Why don't we go back via James's parents' place? We can check in and see how he's coping with them."

Jessie frowned a little at this, recalling her previous anger at James. Then a chill went through her as she realised that she'd come so close to never being able to make it up with him at all. "Good idea, Meowth. I'm sure they're driving him crazy by now."

_"Giovanni will be terribly saddened by your accident, but he won't live long enough to grieve your death."_

_"What are you talking about?" _

_"Didn't you know? You're his daughter."_

At the mention of parents, Jessie suddenly recalled the grunt's words to her before. "What about the Boss? The grunt said that he was next on the Order's hit list."

"He's dealing with a little situation at the gym," Meowth said reassuringly. "There are enough Officer Jenny's around to put off any attack by the Order for at least another few hours."

The cat went on to enlighten her as to the situation and Jessie felt relief at this. Still there was the other matter.

"How did you know I was in trouble?"

"Meowth was spying on Professor Nanba and his right-hand man," Mondo explained. "They said they were going to kill you."

"Is this because of Giovanni?"

"Yeah," Meowth started carefully. "Jess, this is gonna be difficult to believe but-"

"He's my father," Jessie cut in. She didn't know how to react to this news at all. She had mostly only ever been scared of Giovanni and had trouble seeing him as anyone's father let alone her own. "The grunt told me. Are you sure about this?"

"We are," Butch confirmed. "We both saw your file."

"At least we know now why he keeps us on the team," Jessie quipped. The first real emotion that was surfacing inside of her was anger. When her mother died she had thought that she was alone and he'd let her think that. How could he have done that to her? And to her mother's memory?

"Jess, are you gonna be okay? If you want some time to think about this we could go straight back to the gym and call James tomorrow?"

"No," Jessie shook her head. "There isn't time for that. If the Order is starting to make its moves then we need to be ready."

"At least now we know who's behind it," Butch stated. "I'm going to take the jeep and head back to Viridian. Someone needs to keep an eye on Nanba. I also want to talk to Cassidy again."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Meowth commented. "She's made it clear that she doesn't want anything to do with us."

"No but we might need her. Megumi said we're all connected to this and we're all important. And she's been right so far. We need to make Cassidy understand that."

Jessie hadn't wanted to say anything where Cassidy was concerned, especially after their confrontation but if her former best friend truly was planning on betraying them then Butch was unknowingly placing himself in danger.

"I knew it was Nanba all along," Jessie said quietly, knowing that she had to face their anger that she had been keeping things from them.

"What?" Meowth demanded. "Why didn't you say anything?"

The red haired woman ignored this question and continued, her gaze not leaving Butch's as she spoke. "When I was captured by the Order in the future I learned things. I learned that Nanba is the one leading them and I also learned why they captured me. That was an error on their part. They weren't after me, they were after Cassidy."

"Why?" Butch asked, although his tone suggested that he had already partly guessed the answer.

"Nanba wanted to get to her before Megumi did. In that future Cassidy chose the wrong side. She helped spread the Pokévirus 2. It looks as though she's going to do the same thing now, regardless of knowing the outcome. She's a traitor."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Massive apologies for the lengthy delay in getting Chapter Six done. I know its been a very long time since I updated this and I feel really bad about it. I have already started Chapter Seven and will try to avoid such long delays in the future.

**Chapter Six: Doubt**

_Glancing up at Jessiebell's face, James saw shock in her blue-green eyes as a small red dot appeared in the front of her white blouse. It gradually got bigger and she slumped to her knees even as James raced forward and wrapped an arm around her shoulders._

"_Jessiebell?" James gently guided her to lie down on the floor. He had to call for help but when he went to stand she reached out and caught hold of his wrist._

"_J-James…" she trailed off as a look of pain overtook her porcelain features and then her grip on his wrist loosened. James watched in disbelief as the light in her eyes faded and her hand fell back down at her side._

None of them had spoken much for hours. James sat at his bedroom window staring out across the rolling green gardens of the estate. His mind, however, was not on the view but the events of the last six hours. The police had believed that it was a robbery gone wrong and James had said nothing to correct them although he was certain that his parents knew the truth. His mother, upon hearing of Jessiebell's death, had been taken ill and hadn't left her room. James's father had not spoken to him but the disgust and anger were clear to see in his eyes. The lavender haired man was used to this look but never had he felt that he deserved it as he did now. He constantly replayed what happened over and over in his mind thinking that he should have done something differently, that if he had done then Jessiebell might still be alive. She hadn't deserved to die like that.

"James," his attention was drawn by Jessie's voice. "It wasn't your fault."

She had said this a couple of times now but it didn't matter really how many, James wasn't sure that he could ever believe it. Added into this was the guilt that a part of him had been thankful that it hadn't been Jessie. James had learned of her brush with death and that Giovanni was her father, but none of it had really sunk in just yet. He just couldn't think of anything else right now.

Butch was leaning against the wall. His expression was unreadable and he didn't seem to be paying too much attention to the others. It had been Butch who had saved Jessie's life. To do that he'd had to kill a man. Would this mission turn them all into killers before it was complete?

His attention then turned to Mondo. He was only fourteen. Although he was trying to keep it together, there were unshed tears in his eyes. The events at Mt Moon had frightened him much more than he'd let on.

"I don't want any further part in this," James said softly as he stood up. "My parents are leaving for their penthouse in Goldenrod City tomorrow morning. They've hired private security; if we go with them then we'll be safe."

"What about the Order?" Jessie questioned quietly. "Who's going to stop Nanba?"

"We can go to the police and tell them everything. They're the law, they can handle Nanba and the others."

"It has to be us," Butch said, breaking his silence. "We have to stop them."

"Why?" James questioned bitterly, "Because Megumi said so?"

"Yeah and I think I've figured out why. She said that we were all connected to the Order and the virus. Jessie is Giovanni's daughter; James's parents unknowingly funded the research into the virus and Cassidy… Cassidy is helping them."

"What about you and Meowth?" James asked, not wanting to believe the green haired man but, deep down, he knew that what Butch said was true.

Butch shrugged, "I haven't figured that out yet but we need to act quickly. Nanba is going to realise that we're onto him. We have to get back to the HQ and warn the Boss."

"We're out," James shook his head and stood up. "We need to let the authorities handle this."

"We can't run away from this," Jessie murmured, surprising all of them by disagreeing.

"Jessie-"

"We're in this too deep now. If we run then we'll die, just as we do in Megumi's future."

James glanced at Meowth and then Butch. They were all thinking the same thing; he realised and most probably thought he was a coward for wanting out. None of them were heroes, the green eyed man thought sadly. This was too much for them and all that would happen was that they'd end up getting killed. James couldn't watch Jessie and Meowth die, and if that meant that he was a coward then so be it. Without another word he exited his bedroom and hurried down the stairs. He heard Jessie calling him but the purpled haired man ignored her as tears began to blur his vision.

However, he came to a pause as he past his father's study and found that the door was ajar. Peering inside, James saw that Thomas Morgan was seated at his desk, his head in his hands. His son winced, knowing that Thomas had seen Jessiebell as a daughter. Not being able to bear the pain, James was about to leave when his father turned around.

"How's mother?" he asked tentatively, knowing that his father most likely hated him.

"She's asleep."

"What did the doctor say?"

"Do you even care?"

"Of course I-"

"Do you? How could you bring that evil into our home! You've always been a disappointment to me, James, but now… now I can't stand even the sight of you. I want you to take your criminal friends and go."

James hadn't really expected anything less and mutely nodded. This was his fault. If he'd not joined Team Rocket then they would have been safe.

"This isn't James's fault."

"Jessie-" James flinched as he turned around and saw his girlfriend approaching.

"No, James, I'm not having him blame you for this when we all know the truth."

"The truth?" Thomas demanded furiously as he walked towards them. "What are you talking about?"

"Your donations to the Viridian City Gym. Quite a generous amount and a risky move on your behalf considering it's a Team Rocket gym."

"I was unaware of the connection," Thomas protested but something in his voice told James that his father was lying and this gave him the courage to speak up too.

"You donated to Silph Co. too and I heard you talking to someone at the gym. Why did you pay them that money? What was the 'assurance' you were talking about?"

"It was for you," Thomas snapped, knowing that he was cornered. "The money was assurance from Mr DiAngelo that he would keep you on that ridiculous Pikachu mission and out of harms way. Even though you're a disappointment, you're still my son. I paid Mr DiAngelo to keep you safe."

"Safe, with that brat's Pikachu electrocuting us on a daily basis," Meowth quipped, making them aware that he, Butch and Mondo were at the bottom of the stairwell.

"It was better than being shot at or being involved in murders," Thomas defended himself angrily.

"We didn't have anything to do with that," Jessie answered defiantly, "You obviously don't know your son very well if you think he could ever hurt anyone."

James only half-heartedly listened to the heated conversation. He was stunned that his parents had quite obviously cared for him after all, even if they did have a strange way of showing it.

"None of this matters anyway," Butch was the one to finally interrupt them.

"Yeah it does," Meowth snapped. "This is James's family."

"We don't have time for this," the green haired man ignored the cat Pokémon and instead addressed James's father. "Silph Co. are involved in something very dangerous, that's why those men were here. They weren't after James; it was you and your wife they wanted to kill. The best thing you can do is leave for Goldenrod City immediately."

"You're a criminal," Thomas answered coldly. "And you are just saying this to defend that evil organisation. Judith and I will be leaving but not before we see you all off our property. None of you are welcome here."

"Fine," Butch was indifferent to the older man's words. "But don't say we didn't warn you."

The green haired man walked past and exited the mansion through the grand double doors. Mondo was quick to follow; evidently the younger teen was a little frightened of James's father, not that anyone could blame him. Only the three of them lingered. James felt terribly torn but he hadn't honestly expected that he'd save their lives and then all would be forgiven between them. He'd always be a disappointment to them but at least, deep down, he knew that they did, in their own strange way, love him.

"I'll call you in a few days," he said finally. His father did not reply and merely went back into his study, shutting the door firmly behind him.

"What a jerk," Meowth scoffed, although the anger in the feline's eyes disappeared when he saw just how upset James was. "You don't need them, Jimmy, you've got us," he added comfortingly.

"Meowth's right," Jessie nodded with a smile. "We're your family, James."

James returned her smile and when Jessie embraced him he pressed a kiss to her lips. They were his family, which was why he couldn't stand to lose them. He'd come to close to losing Jessie already.

"As cute as your two are, we should get going," Meowth commented wryly when their kiss continued for a minute or so.

Jessie sighed and drew back, although she held onto James's hand as they left the mansion. Butch and Mondo were sitting on the steps, the younger boy petting Growlie. The dog Pokémon had recovered from the stunspore and bounded over upon seeing his master.

"I guess we're leaving again, Growlie," James said sadly, knowing that look in the canine's eyes. "I want you to stay and look after my parents. They need you more, after all." Growlie whined but James knew that he understood why he couldn't go with him. The purple haired man shuddered a little as he recalled what became of his beloved Pokémon in the future and he desperately hoped that this decision was sparing Growlie that.

"I'm going back to Viridian City," Butch said, breaking the tense silence that befell them as they walked away from the mansion. "I need to warn the Boss about what's happening. If you guys want to leave then I'm not going to try and talk you out of it."

_We're in this too deep now. If we run then we'll die, just as we do in Megumi's future_

James glanced at Jessie and winced at her expression. He knew that look all too well. She wanted to go with Butch and stop Nanba. He again thought of Jessiebell and a lump formed in his throat. He couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to Jessie. Perhaps she was right, a small voice in the back of his mind questioned, however. Perhaps they were in this too deep now? Maybe running would get them killed? If Megumi's future came to pass then they would die, she had been certain of this. She and Keiko had sacrificed a lot to warn them; they would not have done so had they not believed in them.

"It's okay," he said finally, well aware that he didn't sound as certain as he would like to. "We're in."

Butch appeared as taken aback as Jessie and Meowth at this sudden change of heart. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," James nodded although he couldn't help but wonder if this was the right decision after all.

* * *

"What do you mean he's gone?" Butch demanded. Daphne flinched a little at his tone from behind her desk.

"He's gone to the Johto region on urgent business. He won't be back for at least a week."

"Now what?" James wondered from behind the green haired man. Butch, in truth, didn't know. The plan had been to tell Giovanni everything and let him handle Nanba. He suspected that part of the reason that the Boss had left was due to the disturbance at the gym. There was still a police presence in the lobby and they'd had to use the secret entrance at the back to get into the HQ.

"Come on," Butch led the way back down the corridor and to the cafeteria. It was late evening and so there were few Rockets in there. Mondo, trying to keep the mood upbeat despite the setback, offered to get them some drinks. Butch wasn't really sure what the kid thought about all of this but he adored Jessie and James so Butch was certain that they could trust him.

They sat in the corner, Butch on one side of the table with Jessie and James opposite him whilst Meowth sat on James's lap.

"We could try calling him?" James suggested after a few minutes past in silence.

"It's not really the kind of thing that we can tell him over the phone," Butch pointed out. He already had a kind of plan in mind but he wasn't sure how the others would react to it.

Mondo came back at this point with the coffee and, much to the others' delight, donuts. "What are we going to do now?" He asked after handing the food round. "Can we wait until he gets back?"

"Probably not. I expect Nanba will want to move quickly. It looks like we're going to have to stop him ourselves."

"How?" Jessie questioned sharply. "We don't know who we can trust and who is a traitor."

"I do have an idea but I don't think you're going to like it."

"What is it?" Meowth asked suspiciously.

Butch cast a quick glance around the room to ensure that no one else was within earshot before continuing, "We break into the lab and destroy the virus."

"It'll be guarded," Mondo said doubtfully. "And even if we could get in, how are we going to destroy it?"

"I know how," Jessie offered, the seriousness in her voice indicating that she had considered the plan and not merely dismissed it as too dangerous as the others appeared to have done.

She leaned forward a little and lowered her voice as she said, "We burn the place to the ground."

"Jessie!" James was the first to voice his shock at this idea and Meowth wasn't far behind. "We can't do that! If the Boss-"

"The fire could get out of control and burn the whole base to the ground!"

"Do either of you have a better idea?" Jessie demanded.

"Could we stall them for a week?" Mondo asked. "Then when the Boss comes back we can tell him what's going on."

"We can't wait a week," Butch said, once again taking charge. "I know its risky but I think we should go with Jessie's idea. Burning the place down will completely destroy the virus and all the research."

"We can take out the fire sensors but raise the alarm once the fire has taken hold in the labs," Jessie added. "With all the chemicals in there it'll go up like a bonfire in no time."

"We do need a backup plan," Butch cautioned. If the fire failed and they were caught then there would be no one to warn the Boss. "Mondo, we need you to take the balloon and go the HQ in Goldenrod City. Once you get there you need to tell the Boss everything."

"Me?" Mondo looked less than thrilled about this idea. "He won't believe me."

"He will if he reads the files on the Server. I know they're encrypted but if anyone can hack into them you can."

"What about you guys? I don't want to leave you," Mondo was looking at Jessie as he said this and blushed.

"We'll be fine," the red haired woman assured him. "Meowth," she turned to the cat Pokémon, "You are going with him."

"What?" Meowth all but shrieked. "Why?"

This surprised Butch as much as it did the cat but he soon realised Jessie's reasoning behind this.

"It's too dangerous for you, Meowth. If you're exposed to the virus…" she let the rest of the sentence hang. "You'll be safer with Mondo."

"We're a team," Meowth pointed out. "Who's going to look after you two idiots if I'm not around?"

"That is true," Butch said with a smirk. He almost envied the others at this moment. All through this they had each other. Jessie would never betray James the way Cassidy had betrayed him. "But Jessie's right, you should go with Mondo."

"Fine," the cat grumbled, "but let me help you guys set things up first. You know you'll screw it up without Meowth's help!"

They decided to meet in Butch's room in the morning to discuss the details of the plan. It was getting rather late and after the few days they'd had they all needed to get some sleep. As well, Butch was conscious that he'd been seen socialising with Jessie and James when it was common knowledge that they couldn't stand each other. That would arouse suspicion alone.

However, as they stood to go their separate ways, Jessie caught his arm. "What are we going to do about Cassidy?"

"She's chosen her side," Butch answered, feeling a pang of regret at the mention of his former partner. He had loved her and she wasn't the person he had thought she was.

"I think you should talk to her," Jessie pressed, "As much as I hate to admit it, I don't think she's going along with this willingly."

"There's no point," Butch shook his head. "She's made her choice."

The red haired woman knew when to leave things alone and she and the rest of her team left with Mondo. Butch sighed to himself and started the walk down the corridor and back to his room. He wasn't as concerned about failing the mission as the others because the more he thought about it the more he realised that nothing really mattered anyway. Jessie, James and Meowth had each other but he didn't have anyone now. Even if he was killed tomorrow night, Butch couldn't bring himself to care. He didn't have anything to lose now. In fact, the more he thought about it the more he wondered if his role in this was much darker.

* * *

_Go and tell Giovanni if you want but I suggest that you really think about this. Nanba already has trial stocks of the virus in his possession. He keeps a vile on his person at all times in case he is betrayed. If you tell the Boss now then you'll merely be sentencing me, and others like me, to death. Nanba will escape and the virus will still be unleashed. You won't save your precious team, Jessie, and you certainly won't save the world_

"Working late?" Cassidy jumped as Nanba's voice sounded very close to her ear. She had been staring at the same sheet of paper for the past twenty minutes feeling unable to focus but not wanting to return to her room either. She had not heard anything from the Boss since her confrontation with Jessie and so she could only hope that her former best friend had, had the sense to keep her mouth shut. Of course, Giovanni's leaving for Johto had helped assuage Cassidy's fears. However, at the same time it left her feeling more vulnerable. With Giovanni gone,Nanba was effectively in charge.

"I'm just catching up with some paperwork for the Boss," Cassidy cringed a little at the close proximity of the scientist.

"I trust it is all of a complimentary nature," his tone was even but there was an underlying threat that Cassidy clearly heard.

"You can read it if you like," she challenged.

"That won't be necessary. I'm glad you're here as there is something else troubling me, Cassidy. Yesterday one of my men was killed whilst out on a mission. Someone had tipped Butch off as to the nature of this mission. Considering your history I am concerned that you have taken it upon yourself to betray me."

"I haven't spoken to Butch," Cassidy kept her voice uninterested but in truth her heart was pounding and she felt sick inside.

"The more I think about it the more I feel inclined to reconsider our agreement. Butch and those others are becoming a thorn in my side."

"You shouldn't concern yourself with them. Jessie and James can't even steal a Pikachu from a ten year old; they're hardly going to be successful in stopping your plans," Cassidy said scornfully. There was a tiny part of her that did believe her own words but most of her now believed in Megumi's words that the five of them had been destined to stop the Order. However, this would no longer happen. Cassidy already had an idea in mind to take them down herself.

Nanba held her gaze for a moment more before changing the subject. "Regardless, I have decided that our operation is going to be brought forward. I have made preparations to leave for Saffron City in two days. I would like you to accompany us."

"Of course, sir."

"Good. You can forget completing any further paperwork now. It is meaningless now that we are so close to achieving my goal."

Cassidy nodded, knowing better than to linger when it was clear, for whatever reason, Nanba wanted her to leave the lab immediately. She gathered up her things and did so, moving fast down the corridor but ensuring that she wasn't followed.

It was late and the orange haired woman wondered if he'd even still be awake when she knocked on the door. Apprehension filled her when she heard the lock turning. Butch's gaze turned cold when he saw whom it was and he would have shut the door again had Cassidy not stuck her foot in it. Without awaiting an invitation she barged in and slammed it shut behind her.

"What do you want?" Butch demanded, brown eyes flashing angrily and the fury within them told her that he knew of her betrayal in Megumi's future and now also.

"I'm here to warn you," Cassidy snapped defensively. As much as she wanted to explain everything to him it was just too dangerous for them all. "Nanba suspects you. You need to get out of Viridian City."

"We're not going anywhere. We're going to stop him."

"Don't be an idiot, Butch. He'll kill you. I'm telling you to leave. Just forget what Megumi said. We're not the heroes and never will be."

"I don't believe that."

Cassidy laughed scornfully at this statement even though inside she hated herself even more by each passing moment. "I mean it. Butch, get out of here while you still can."

"No," the older Rocket shook his head. "We're going to shut Nanba's sick operation down."

She knew that he wouldn't be persuaded but Cassidy had felt that she had to try. Even though it was clear that he would never forgive her, Cassidy still loved him. "I didn't want it to come to this," she said quietly as she turned to leave.

"Cassidy," Butch called after her and she paused, daring to hope that he still cared after all.

"Don't get in our way," the green haired man warned quietly. "I don't want to have to stop you too."

She did not reply, she felt she could not as a lump formed in her throat at his cold words. Cassidy hurried back down the corridor, stubbornly wiping away the single tear that rolled down her cheek as she did so.


End file.
